Our Little One
by skullcandyklive
Summary: After recovering Inori and the rest of her people from the void realm, Shu is faced with unintended and dire consequences, such as fighting a war between his sister and preventing the fifth apocalypse and when Hare decided to bring back a young boy with amnesia, things start to get complicated, but they'll soon realize that there's more to this boy than meets the eye.
1. Prologue: Lost and Found

**Hello my fellow fanfiction writers/readers, I'm here to bring you yet another story for yet another fandom. Just a little heads up, I haven't abandoned my other stories, I am simply waiting for inspiration to hit me with my other stories. I also can't help it if I like writing other stories for different fandoms as a way of sharing my "what if's" and "why not's". Please bear with me.**

 **Also, I have recently read a very spectacular story in this particular fandom, namely** _ **Reclaiming the throne by GuiltyKingOumaShu.**_ **His work simply inspired me to the point where I just** _ **had**_ **to put my idea on paper. With that said, this story's setting will be according to his story, specifically the start of the second arc. I advise that you read his story first (at the very least the first arc) so that you won't be confused when it comes to the rules and mechanics you'll find in this story. That said, this story will have it's own plot and I would also like to inform you all that I have asked for and received his permission to use his setting.**

 **Yes, I will also be adding my OC into the mix, just like every other story I have written so far.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Guilty Crown**

 **With that said, on with the show.**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Prologue: Lost and Found**

 _No matter how much good you do for them, eventually they will still hate you._

An Ironic and highly cliché plot development that could be found in countless of old superhero comic books back in the earlier days. How it usually went was that the protagonist would be some sort of martyr that would persistently go around doing good deeds, despite all his good intentions he would still be despised by everyone. This would gradually push the protagonist to the point where he would start caring about only his self; shunning those who had despised him despite his good deeds. Then when the time came the protagonist would be given an ultimatum; to save the one he loved to most or the millions of people who has shunned him for so long. The choice would've been obvious at that point...

However, this wasn't some overly cliché superhero movie or comic book, this was the real world and in the real world such martyrs did not exist...or rather one did exist...five years ago and the results were not even intended at the time.

Who could blame him? He had sacrificed everything he had; even the girl he loved the most and for what...? Blindness. Misery. Despair. He had given up his all, yet no one had even shown an ounce of gratitude, apart from his friends; he saved the world and the people despised him for it. If this were a movie, the protagonist would be satisfied with knowing that he had done a great good to the world, but it wasn't.

So was it really so bad for Shu to put _his_ needs first this time? Was it so bad for him to reach for the first ray of happiness he truly had for the last five years? Was it so bad for him to forget the people who had hated him in order to save the ones he truly cared for? Of course, it wasn't. He had wanted nothing more than to be at his loved one's side, naturally, he would take the first chance he got no matter the cost.

However, he couldn't have possibly forseen the consequences that befell him now.

The Apocalypse Virus has returned. Tokyo was under lockdown. Yuu has gained a void genome. Mana and Gai are probably making plans as they speak. Da'ath was one step closer to accomplishing their mission. He and his friends being branded as terrorists yet again.

Unintended the consequences may have been...he still couldn't help, but feel blissed at this very moment. Shu simply smiled down at the pink-haired girl that was hugging from the side, like she was afraid to let him go again. Quite understandable since they were reunited only a few days ago and three of those few days he had spent unconcsious due to him losing his arm...again. He was simply happy at this very moment, even if what was being said about him on screen was less than desirable. He wasn't paying rapt attention to it since his mind was currently focusing on his queen, but the general gist of it was that the situation in Tokyo has returned to what it was like five years ago and the reports were blaming him and his friends, not that he minded though.

"It seems they are branding us as terrorists again" he was pulled out of his reverie when Inori spoke her observation with a casual tone, which was highly contradictory to the context of her message. Any other person would feel alarmed and even panicked by such a statement, but Shu only shrugged, while lifting his gaze to face the screen. It's not like people admired him before this happened. If anything this felt a little nostalgic and his situation has definitely gotten better despite the news, even if there equally disturbing consequences to rival it.

"It's not like things were any better before..." he said his honest thoughts with a bright smile on his face. One that was genuine and complete. His life for the last five years was mostly ruled by misery and despair so what he said wasn't exactly a lie. Shu had definitely smiled, during the last five years and some of them weren't necessarily fake, but all of those smiles were simply incomplete...like smiling hurt him.

"These guys are a bunch of morons." Complained a certain dark-haired hacker sitting on a nearby chair. "They're just finding people to point their finger at. They don't even have solid evidence that we did anything."

"It's not like we're doing any better. We're practically clueless when it comes to what's going on out there" Argo who was standing in one corner with folded arms said matter of factly.

The gang was gathered in what was close to a living room they could get in their former funeral parlor hideout in Yokohama. The room was fairly big and had several chairs to accomodate it's occupants. Apparently, this used to be a lounge of some sort before, which has been collecting dust for five years. As to what they were doing here, well they were all just trying to find _any_ source of information regarding the situation outside, which was, at the moment, a news program being broadcasted, but all they had managed to get from _that_ was the fact that the SDF were blaming them for the return of the apocalypse virus; information that nobody really cared about.

"We already sent a few guys to gather information, they should be back in a few minutes" Yahiro decided to add, while looking slightly bored with the program at hand.

"Well that's something, I guess" Ayase who was absent-mindedly spinning a pen on her fingers said with a bored expression.

"We'll just gather a meeting once they tell us their reports, there's really nothing more we can do at the moment" Shu said calmly, while Inori just nodded in agreement. He wasn't at all ecstatic about him being a leader again, but he had little choice in the matter.

That's when a particular brunette genesis girl suddenly barged in the room, clearly looking out of breat because of her heavy panting. From her expression alone, everyone in the room tensed and stood up, as if anticipating an attack.

"Hare, what is it? Did something happen?" Shu was the first one to respons, but Hare was still looking mortified, while breathing heavily. Something was definitely wrong.

"Guys...you have to...come see...this" Hare said in between breaths as she pointed to the general direction of the infirmary.

...

The infirmary wasn't particularly busy at the time, nor was it empty. There were still a few patients who were receiving first aid for minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, though that was sure to change as the days went by, especially with the Genesis vs Humans rivalry slowly heating up. With that said, no serious injuries were currently present in the infirmary, which is exactly why Shu and Inori's eyes zeroed in on a figure lying down on the hospital bed with an IV hanging down from the figure's arm.

As if the gang was being controlled by invisible strings, they found themselves slowly approaching said figure. Said figure clearly stood out from the rest of the patients because it was the only one that was unconscious, which was weird because they never heard any reports about any events that may have resulted in something like this. There were the occasional arguments between the two factions, but that's all they were; arguments. Was the tension between Genesis and Human really escalating so quickly?

Before Shu could answer his own question, they had already arrived at the side of the figure's bed; allowing them full view of the figure who was lying on the bed. Said figure was a boy that was no older than twelve years old judging by the height and look on his face. He had brown hair that was spiked and seemed to lean backwards diagonally; revealing his forehead. He was wearing a taupe long-sleeved shirt that was folded upto his elbows and tucked in, brown jeans and a pair of old sneakers. He had milky white skin that looked familiar. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that this boy was his and Inori's child. Luckily such a ridiculous thought left him immediately, which is why he decided to ask the first question that popped into his mind.

"Who is he?" He asked with gentle voice, while he looked at the boy with sympathy. He looked over at Inori and she had the same expression plastered on her face. She was clearly feeling sympathy for this boy, for all Shu knew this boy was someone who had fought along side her in the void realm.

Hare, however, was slightly taken aback by Shu's response and looked like she had just made a big mistake. Even Shu furrowed his eyebrows at her response. Was it something he said?

"You don't recognize him?" Hare asked in shock and turned to Inori who merely shook her head with the same confused expression. Was he supposed to?

The truth was that Hare actually found this boy unconcsious just a few meters from their hideout. Naturally he healed him with her void and brought him here in the infirmary. At the time, she was under the impression that this boy was either a human member of funeral parlor or a Genesis, but given that neither Shu nor Inori recognized this boy...she felt like she had just brought a potential enemy into their only hideout, which explains the completely mortified look on her face. In hindsight, this boy did seem a little too young to be a member of funeral parlor. given the fact that she never met him before im the void realm, he was clearly human.

Hoping that she hadn't just practically handed their location to the enemy on a silver platter she turned to Argo, then Yahiro, then Tsugumi, then Ayase, but all she got in return were confused expressions on each and every one of their faces. At this point, she was mostly certain that she had just dug their own graves with this purely instinctive act of hers. The thought just made Hare want to cry silent tears; feeling like a traitor right about now.

"Hare, is something wrong?" Shu asked concernedly as he eyed her friend's increasing anxiety with worry.

Before her friend can even think about opening her mouth to speak, they all turned their attention to a groggy groan coming from the bed. They all eyed the young boy expectantly, hoping for a bit of enlightenment. Naturally, the boy opened his eyes.

his _red_ eyes

 **...**

 **...**

 **Vague exposition is vague. This concludes the prologue for my first story attempt at this fandom.**

 **Just who** _ **was**_ **the boy that Hare found near their hideout in Yokohama? More chapters to come so stay tuned and while your at it feel free to leave a review and follow/favorite this little story.**

 **Once again, thank you so much to GuiltyKingOumaShu for letting me barrow this setting and a few other mechanics and rules that you're sure to see in the future.**

 **Until next time.**


	2. New addition

**Here I am again with the first official chapter of "Our little one". With that said, I decided to write this multi-chapter story in arcs, which was slightly inspired by how Reclaiming the throne was written. This chapter will mark the beginning of the "Lost and Found" arc.**

 **With that out of the way, on with the show.**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 1: New addition**

...

...

With nearly five years of experience in the void realm, Shu was pretty much convinced that Inori has become a loving and caring queen. From the stories that he had managed to hear, Inori always took her followers into consideration and always had their best interests at heart. He had heard stories of his pink-haired queen taking time to play with the children, partaking in festivities, and occasionally leading her army in person during the battles with Mana. With that said, Inori has always been kind at heart, innocent, and pure. Given that information, he wasn't all that surprised to see that she was handling the situation with their unexpected guest quite well. Inori was kind to everyone, even her enemies, so a lost kid like this wasn't really a problem for her.

"Hello..." Inori said with a small smile on her face as she sat on a chair to look at the kid Hare found outside their hideout. The boy merely turned to her with his red eyes with an expression that can only be described as neutral and monotonous, like he had no emotions whatsoever. "Would you care to tell us your name, little one" Inori said with a gentle and affectionate tone that made Shu proud.

 _She's a natural at this_. Was what Shu thought.

Said boy, however merely looked down on the sheets and seemed to look like he was visibly trying to call back something from the depths of his mind; he looked distant. He looked like his mind wasn't even there anymore, which confused the king and queen. Was there something wrong?

Finally the boy looked at Inori again with the same neutral expression. Now where has he seen that before again? Ah, Inori during their first meetings.

"...Shiro" Shiro said with a voice that sounded like a pubescent boy that was still a little too high and child-like. The way he said it, sounded like he wasn't aware that the word was his name. Shu and the rest also noted the absence of a last name.

"I see, it's nice to meet you Shiro. My name is Inori." Inori said with the same patient smile on her face.

"I-no-ri?" Shiro tested out the name and sounded almost bemused, but Inori chose not to note that, instead she simply nodded in encouragement. She just decided to nod in approval before gesturing to her king, which caught the brunette off guard.

"And this is Shu" Shiro then looked over at Shu, which only made the brunette king scratch the back of his neck awkwardly, while chuckling nervously.

"um...hi.." It was funny how Shu always seemed to revert back to his old, awkward, wimpy, and lame self, when he was faced with the right situation, despite the fact of him having grown mature in the last five days.

"Shu..." Shiro said his name as if he was testing it out; letting the word sink in.

The rest of the gang assumed that this boy was clearly having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new situation, given by how slow he was in reacting and his somewhat distant tone of voice, so they all started to walk out and leave the king and queen alone to avoid having him process any unnecessary extras. However, they have only managed to get a few feet, when they suddenly sensed the boy's gaze turned towards them. They turned around...only to see the boy eying them curiously with his head tilted slightly. There wasn't anything peculiar about this action per se, if anything it was a logical response to find out as much information about your surroundings when you suddenly find yourself in a place you've never seen before, but it still made them shuffle uneasily and avert their gazes awkwardly; not knowing what to do.

"Hello Shiro, you can call me Hare." Hare was the one who broke the silence by giving the boy a bright smile and using that special charm of hers. If there was anyone who could deal with the current situation, aside from Inori, it was definitely Hare, since they have both have had experience caring for other during their time spent in the void realm. She then gestured to the rest of the gang and promptly announced their names. "That's Tsugumi, Ayase, Yahiro, and Argo"

The people in question responded in their own way, whike Shiro continued to stare at them. The black-haired hacker responded with her own bright smile, Ayase merely smile slightly and waved awkwardly, Yahiro smiled at the boy confidently, and Argo just offered a terse nod with crossed arms.

"Ha-re...Tsu-gu-mi...A-ya-se...Ya-hi-ro...Ar-go"

"That's right." Hare said with an expression that made it look like they were explaining one thing or another to a pre-school student, instead of a pubescent boy. "Are you feeling okay now?" Hare asked in concern.

The boy in question merely nodded his head in assessment, which made Hare breathe a sigh in relief; making it clear that Shiro wasn't in his current condition when he had found him.

"What were you doing outside, Shiro?" Inori decided to cut to the chase, since introductions were already out of the way, but her gentle voice and expression didn't falter in the least bit. The boy in question, however, merely looked at the pinkette in confusion, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. This got Hare's attention, which is why he decided to ask her own question.

"I found you outside, Shiro. Don't you remember what you were doing there?" Hare was only replied with the same confused and bemused expression, before looking around and speculating his surroundings with a neutral expression. Hare spotted this and decided to explain. "I brought you inside, since you looked pretty beat when I first found you. Can't you remember what happened to you?" Hare was clearly starting to visibly worry. So was the majority of the people near him, with the exception of Argo.

Shiro merely shook his head before looking down and furrowing his brow in concentration.

"Where are your parents? I'm sure they're probably looking for you" Shu decided to pipe in, bit only received a bemused look in return.

"...Parents...?"

This situation was definitely familiar to everyone present, it reminded them of how Inori used to be; emotionless and monotone. However, there was a very distinct difference between the two; Inori didn't know such things in the first place, while Shiro seemed like he knew of such things, but didn't have any memories of them. With that said, Shiro spoke and acted like they were looking at them from a different world. It looked like he was familiar with what they were saying, but he just didn't have any memories of said things. Think of it as a person who has only read theories of such things and had once experienced them, but said person just couldn't access such memories, which resulted in his slightly bemused tone of voice.

It was at that moment that Shu decided to look at Hare with an expression that sent a clear message.

 _Who is this boy?_

Hare could only look at him with a worried expression on her face. Inori seemed to share the same troubled expression with her, as well as, the others, but Argo seemed to just eye Shiro suspiciously.

"...the last thing I remember...was waking up in this room" Shiro admitted bemusedly.

"Guys, can we talk for a bit" he then turned to Shiro with his suspicious expression. "in private"

...

Once they left the infirmary they immediately went to the meeting room that had to be some sort of lounge before that had a large circular table in the center. Around the table, the gang wore varying expressions on their faces; Inori being calm and neutral, Hare looking slightly worried and guilty, Yahiro with closed eyes and folded arms, Tsugumi with a bored expression on her face while leaning on one of her elbows, Ayase eying Argo with curiosity and disapproval, Argo looking slightly irritated, and lastly Shu who was looking a bit torn at the moment.

"Hare" Argo turned to the brunette in question who jolted in her surprise. All eyes were now on the brunette in question who could only fidget nervously, while looking down; as if she had just been caught doing something naughty while thinking that it was completely innocent. "What happened before you brought that boy here" his tone clearly held firm accusation, which made Ayase and Tsugumi glare in his direction, while Shu and Inori simply closed their eyes calmly with a frown on their faces.

They didn't particularly like seeing their friend be accused in a such a way, but now that Argo has brought it up...what _did_ happen with Hare and why _did_ he bring that boy here?

Apparently, Hare managed to gulp down her nervousness and sighed before looking at Argo with a determined expression on her face. She didn't like being accused like this. She could understand why Argo was feeling a bit irrate with her, but she had the best intentions at heart when he brought Shiro in the hideout, so she refused to be accused like this.

"I was just walking around outside a bit. When I was about to go back inside, I came across what looked like a body of a boy from the distance. He looked pretty beat up so I healed him. Then I thought that maybe he was one of the genesis that I was with back in the void realm or maybe one of the undertakers that joined us, so I brought him inside so that he can rest for a bit, but when Shu and Inori said that they recognized him I started to feel bad because..." Hare's explanation was starting to get more frantic and more emotional as she went on.

"You practically handed our location to the enemy?!" Argo asked furiously, which made Hare flinch. It was definitely a possibility that this boy was a spy for the enemy and that he was just lying about not having any memories.

"If he was a spy then why doesn't he have any memories. Don't you think he should at least know what he's supposed to be doing here if he was?" Yahiro said in his friend's defense, but was immediately rejected by the former SDF soldier.

"We don't know that for sure. For all we know, he could just be lying to us about not remembering anything." A solid point.

"He wasn't lying" they all turned their heads to the pink-haired vocalist who was wearing a calm expression on her face. "I could tell. He was telling the truth."

Argo decided to put the possibility of lying out of the window, since pushing the matter would clearly get him nowhere. Shu trusted Inori, so if she says that Shiro wasn't lying, then that was all he needed to put his suspicions at rest. However, Argo wasn't going to give in so easily, not when the threat of being infiltrated was still there.

"Let's say that he wasn't lying. That doesn't mean he's not a threat" Argo continued to press the matter.

"The boy has no memories, aside from his name." Ayase said matter-of-factly.

"So? What if he really believes that he lost his memories? Or what if his memories were altered into thinking that he lost his memories? That way, he wouldn't know himself if he was lying" a real possibility, indeed. Who were they to judge if Shiro himself didn't know that he was lying.

"What good would that do? If he doesn't remember anything, he won't able to do his job" Yahiro stated.

"Unless, he's being used to trace our location" Argo spat, which made the brunette narrow his eyes. Nearly everybody tensed at the very real possibility, until Tsugumi decided to pipe up.

"Oh? Was the SDF thinking: Let's send in a defenseless kid who has no memories at all to a random location, I'm sure the terrorists will be kind enough to take them to the their hideout" Tsugumi said with a sarcastic raise of her eyebrow and a mischievous grin. Shu and the rest of the gang tried to hold back their laughter at the irony, while Argo just glared. That was what they had just done right now and they probably wouldn't turn a blind eye on a helpless kid like Shiro, but the SDF would never believe that a terrorist group like funeral parlor would ever do something like that.

"You have to admit, that's something that they wouldn't likely think, Argo. Let alone act on." Shu said with a smile on his face, while Inori nodded in assesment. Argo just sweatdropped, he couldn't really argue with that. As far as the SDF knew, Shu and the others were a bunch of cold-blooded terrorists that wanted to end the world by bringing back the apocalypse virus, so this didn't really make sense based on their moral mindset.

"Not to mention that sending in a kid to do a mission like this would be a huge blow to their pride" Ayase added with a teasing grin. Argo could only sweatdrop again, because that was yet another solid point.

"And would they really go through the trouble of finding a kid, specifically with brown hair and red eyes?" Yahiro added with a grin directed towards Shu ans Inori. The former could only blush at the statement, while latter just tilted her head to the side in confusion.

This made Argo heave a sigh, knowing fully well that his argument was void, until something occured to him.

"What about Mana?"

The tension in the room suddenly escalated and all teasing and laughter stopped abruptly at the mere mention of shu's older sister.

"Though he is immune to the virus, I've never seen him before in the void realm." Inori was the first to break the silence, which made his king look at her in surprise.

"He's immune?" Clearly shocked by his queen's sudden revelation. If he was immune to the virus, then that could only mean that he was in the void realm, but she said that he never saw him before. So what did that mean? Inori nodded at him. "but you never saw him before?" another nod.

"I never saw him before either" Hare piped in. Granted, she wasn't really on the front lines very often, she still tended to the wounded in Inori's camp, so she would have been able to see and recognize her comrades. That and Hare's personality practically guaranteed that she was a quite popular with Inori's people.

Also, if he _was_ one of Inori's followers then Shu should've been able to see him when they departed.

"Then maybe Mana kept him hidden, just for this purpose" Inori shook her head at Yahiro's suggestion.

"She never withheld any of her followers, regardless of whether their void was useful or not" Hare said with a slightly depressed tone.

"She wouldn't have a reason to do that either. She believed that Shu was going to accept her." Inori added, which made Shu frown.

"If she believed that, then she wouldn't have a reason to think that this would happen. So she wouldn't have any reason to plan this" Shu continued with a small frown.

It was a very solid point. For Mana to have a reason to hide one of her followers, she would need to believe that the current situation would happen in the first place, but since she had believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that Shu was going to save her, she wouldn't have expected this situation to happen. With that said, she wouldn't have any reason to hide one of her followers for this purpose, since she wouldn't have forseen this.

"Okay" Argo reluctantly agreed since he couldn't really argue with the logic. "So, are you saying he's a normal human boy?" Inori just shook her head.

"I wouldn't be able to consider him as normal since he's immune, but we can't be sure that he isn't Genesis." Inori said matter-of-factly.

"We can easily find that out, though" Argo stated to which Inori just nodded. Comparing Shiro's attributes to one of the Genesis of the same age would easily tell if he was a Genesis, considering the fact that they couldn't really ask him directly if he was Genesis or not, due to obvious reasons.

"So, Shiro is either a Genesis that managed to stay hidden from Inori and Mana in the void realm for five years or he's a normal human that naturally developed an immunity to the virus" Shu summed up the point on what Shiro was.

"The former seems more likely than the latter" Ayase stated and everyone just nodded at her. A normal human couldn't have adapted and evolved an immunity to the virus that quickly. Evolution took years and a naturally developed immunity to a virus took even longer. Another point to consider was that scientists have never been able to find a permanent cure for the virus, much less developed someort of immunity to it.

After that there was silence. They had practically established that Shiro wasn't an enemy spy, but even if he wasn't...what were they supposed to do?

"So where does that leave us?" Yahiro was the first one to break the silence with the question that was on everybody's mind. Everybody just stayed silent and suddenly got slightly depressed expressions on their faces, except for Hare who didn't take the lack of an immediate response too well as she stood up and looked at each an everyone of them with a disbelieving expression.

"What do you mean: where does that leave us? Isn't it obvious? We need to help him. We're probably the only ones who knows that he even exists" Hare had always been kind and considerate, though there were times when she'd slightly get mad, it's usually because she was worried about her friends. That wasn't necessariky the case in this situation, but the emotion she felt was definitely the same.

Her little suggestion was just met by silence, until the brunette king decided to break it.

"Even if you say that, Hare..." Shu started awkwardly, while scratching his cheek. This statement was immediately met by a shocked Hare.

"Don't tell me you're planning on just sending him out?" Silence. "I thought the only issue was that he might be spy" she said trying to form an argument for Shiro's sake.

"It's not that easy, Hare. We're going against a war with Mana, while trying to prevent the fifth apocalypse, we can't afford to get side-tracked and become a day care" Argo said with closed eyes and a serious expression on his face.

"Argo has a point. We need to stay on track, and besides bringing in a child into this mess, isn't really the best option" Yahiro supported with closed eyes, much to Hare's surprise.

"So is it better to just send him out there on his own. He's just going to get in the crossfire, if we send him off. He's going to get involved one way or the other, he'll be much better off with us than on his own out in Tokyo" Hare countered in a desperate manner. Hare also had a point, if they were send him off in the streets of Tokyo, then the likelihood was that he was going to get caught in the crossfire when the launch and attack on loop seven. It would definitely be better for him to stay with them.

"Yeah, let him stay, I do need an extra hand with all that outdated equipment. He can pitch every once in a while." Tsugumi said in her usual cheerful output; looking slightly glad that she was able to say something that could slightly defuse the situation. Hare, for her part, looked visibly thankful for the backup, which made Tsugumi wink at her.

"He maybe young, but I'm sure he can help out in his own way. He doesn't look like the type who can fend for himself" Ayase piped in.

"What good could a 12 year old boy be to a resistance group?" Argo asked rhetorically.

"Well, they did manage to turn _Shu_ into a soldier" Yahito said as an explanation, which brought about a few giggles from the girls and sweatdrop from the king. He didn't particularly like how his name was emphasized in that sentence; it was like Yahiro was suggesting that he was about as weak as a twelve year old five years ago.

"That's right, if Shu turned out to be a pretty big help, then why not Shiro?" Tsugumi asked cheerfully, which made the king sweatdrop again with a small tick mark appearing on his forehead, while his queen tried to comfort him by holding his hand and rubbing small circles around it. She wasn't really suggesting to put him on the front lines, but maybe he could help out in terms of morale?

"Shu had the void genome back then so of course he was a big help." Argo stated calmly to get their attention. "Shiro, on the other hand..."

"It's not right to send someone off for doing nothing." Inori spoke in a serious tone. "or for being the way they are"

"Inori, this isn't the void realm anymore; you didn't have to worry about food, water, resources back then. This time we only have a limited..." Argo tried to argue, but was interrupted by Inori.

"The same principle applies. Shiro is defenseless and he has come to seek help." Inori said simply. She was clearly referring to when she was made queen in the void realm by the people who were oppressed by Mana and came to seek aid from her. It was only natural for that to have left a mark on her.

"He didn't come here to seek help. Hare just found him outside the hideout." Argo tried to argue the point, but Hare wouldn't have it.

"He can't remember his memories. For all we know, he was looking for help in Tokyo since he couldn't remember anything and while he was wandering around and looking for help, he passed out" Hare explained her theory to him.

"She has a point, for all we know, we're the only people he can rely on right now." Ayase agreed with the brunette's statement.

"I'm sure we can think of something for him." Shu said with a soft expression. He wasn't particularly keen on recruiting a twelve year old boy into a terrorist group, but Shiro's chances would be far better with them than on his own. He was sure that he could think of something for the young boy.

"He could simply stay here, instead of going out on missions" Inori supported, apprently feeling the same reluctance Shu was feeling at the moment.

Argo, for his part, simply sighed in defeat before nodding his head.

"Though, I did say that we shouldn't take anyone, even if were short-handed...I supposed this would be better" Yahiro agreed with a sigh.

All Hare could do was smile and sigh in relief as she turned to her king and queen with a grateful expression.

Though, in her mind all she could think of was "what was she supposed to do now?" She couldn't really expect Shu or Inori to look after Shiro, Yahiro was equally busy with assigning missions, Argo was training the Genesis and Humans in hand to hand combat, Jun was managing the distribution of work here in the hideout, Ayase was looking after the shooting range and training the newbies, and Tsugumi was busy trying to find some useful info using her hacking skills.

Not to mention, Hare was very busy herself, what with the amount of injured getting sent to her everyday because of the rivalry between Genesis and Humans. What was she supposed tod o with Shiro now that she had convinced them to let him stay?

"Okay" Argo brought him back out of his musings. "but we should test him out in a week, just to make sure if he really does have what it takes to be a part of this" Argo said the last part with a bit of reluctance, no one really wanted to involve Shiro in all of this, but it was better to be with them than to be on his own.

Now, it would be Hare's job to find a place for him.

...

"So Shiro...tell me do you remember anything that you're good at?" Apparently, the best Hare could do at the moment was to show him around, while she took a temporary leave from her nursing duties, much to the other nursing crew's shock and reluctance, but were convinced once she explained Shiro's situation. Staying at the infirmary for, who-knows-how-long was clearly not an option for him, since they had agreed to find him something to do and join the newly found funeral parlor.

That inevitably brought them to the current situation at hand, they were currently walking around the halls of their hideout, while Hare was trying to decipher where she should begin in terms of finding a place for him in funeral parlor.

Shiro merely shook his head at Hare's question, which made her sweat drop. Well, the convenient and easy way wasn't going to work. Then an idea crossed her mind.

"Why don't we see how good you are at shooting?" It was a good place to start as any. Afterall, you couldn't send someone like Shiro on an actual mission, since, chances are, he's not even aware of what has happened in the last five years. At least, shooting was pretty easy, all you really had to do was aim and pull the trigger.

This earned her a bemused look and a slightly confused nod in return, but Hare just smiled reassuringly at him.

...

Soon enough they found themselves walking in a room filled with the sounds of gunshots. Hare was actually worried that this sight would terrify the young boy, which was only natural for kids his age that didn't grow up in the void realm, but he was just quietly observing the people that they were walking past. Now that she really got a closer look at him, Shiro was pretty short, by her estimate he was at Inori's chest level. For some reason, he also seemed a bit cautious and confused, though that could just be because of the amnesia.

"Are you okay?" Asked the brunette girl, which got the boy's attention.

"...Yeah" he said neutrally, albeit stubbornly. He looked and sounded a lot like a kid, who didn't want to admit that he was wrong no matter what.

Hare could only smile at the young boy in return and when she looked up she spotted a certain brunette in a wheelchair that she had been looking for, along with, her king and queen. Though, Ayase looked a bit frustrated, while eying a newbie who kept flinching and shirking whenever he fired the pistol in his hand. As they approached, they could hear a bit of their conversation.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Ayase asked with narrowed eyes, while the man, who looked no younger than Shu, held onto the pistol with shaky hands.

"Y-yes Ma'am" This caused the brunette to sigh.

"Take your time" Ayase then spotted the pair approaching their way and slightly cheered up as she greeted them. "Oi, Hare, Shiro, what brings you here?" This caused the king and queen to turn around and smile at them, while Hare just returned it, Shiro looked slightly...oblivious...

"Hi, Ayase, Shu, Inori" Hare said in her cheerful manner, while Shiro just averted his gaze to the shaky man in front of them with an expression that seemed to say: "What's with this guy?"

Shu saw Shiro's expression and smiled in an amused way, like he was a father watching his child get interested with something that piqued the child's interest. Shu knew that the newbie had a long way to go, but to see a twelve year old with Amnesia look on with disapproval was just too cute. So jokingly he said...

"Want to have a try?" He asked the boy with a smile on his face. Shiro then looked at him with hisboblivious expression, while saying...

"I don't know how to use these..." That was a lie...Shiro had observed enough of the trainess to decipher how to work one of the guns they were using; you just load a magazine, pullback the top portion, aim and then fire at the target in front.

He was simply not willing to do it, while surrounded by a crowd of people he barely knew. He somehow felt a little uncomfortable with being around all these people.

"Shiro" Hare whinned playfully with a pout. "That's the whole reason we came here."

"It's pretty simple, y'know. You just aim and fire" Ayase explained with a shrug and a smile, before her expression turned into a sour one as she returned her gaze to the newbie in front of her. "Besides, I'm sure you can't be any worse than this guy" she jerked her head to the newbie's direction, which made the king and queen giggle knowingly, while this earned a confused look from Hare. Ayase simply gestured to the boards of plywood on the side, Hare looked at them and could only sweatdrop.

The bullets didn't even hit the target, it was always on the far edge of the board.

Still, inspite knowing that he could easily best this guy Shiro wasn't comfortable with showing off, while surrounded by a crowd of people

"H-hey, I know I've still got a long way to go, but I can't possibly be defeated by a kid"

Well, fuck it, he wasn't going to take that sitting down.

Shiro's attention as his head snapped back in attention to stare at the newbie with narrowed eyes and a frown. The way his head snapped, you would've thought that he broke his neck with how quick the motion was. Inori and the rest, for their part, looked amused because although the action was meant to be threatening, but the fact that it was being done by a twelve year old made it look cute; like seeing a boy wanting to prove someone wrong. Shiro, for his part, felt slightly annoyed and angry at the newbie. He felt irritated because he got the distinct impression that he was being underestimated. Evidently, he didn't like being underesitimated.

Wordlessly, he grabbed a spare pistol on the side and took a look at the magazine to make sure that it was loaded. He then ushered the newbie to step aside, which the newbie complied with a superior smirk on his face. Shiro then started to take aim at the target, while maintaining a proper hold on the gun, and not looking the least bit shaky.

Shu, Ayase, and Hare, for their part, just looked a bit taken aback; they hadn't expected Shiro to take things this far, but, apparently, he was. Inori, on the other hand, just watched calmly from the side.

"H-hey, Shiro. I was onl-" Shu's worried voice was interrupted by Shiro firing the first bullet, then another and another...until he emptied the whole magazine. Given the time interval between his shots, you would've thought that he was randomly firing without aiming, which made the newbie chuckle amusedly after the magazine was finished, but his laughter got caught in his throat when he saw the holes on the plywood...or rather _hole._

On the plywood that held the target, there was only one hole, and it was right in the head of the target.

Technically speaking, Shiro fired 15 rounds. So there should've been 15 holes, but there was only one hole...

When was the last time Shu and Ayase saw something like this? Ah, that's right, five years ago with Inori. Maybe that was where the nostalgia came from.

Ayase, for her part, just looked at the plywood in astonishment, while Shu just looked at it in disbelief. Inori nodded with approval and a smile, while Hare looked like she had just experienced three consecutive heart attacks during the timeframe. Who could blame her, a twelve year old boy had just fired a conventional firearm not 5 feet away from her, she had become pretty tough during her time in the void realm, but she never would've been prepared to see _this_ because Inori never sent kids into the frontlines.

Shiro, then, walked over to Ayase with an innocent child-like expression on her face.

"Did I do it right, Ayase-nee-chan?" Shiro said with a tone reminiscent of a child wanting to show off something to his parents, he then turned to the Newbie and said " You should practice more, Onii-chan." He said with the same innocent tone.

"Even a twelve year old is better than you" Ayase complained irritatedly to the still paralyzed newbie, though still feeling a bit of the shock.

"H-how?" Was all the newbie could say, while Shiro just looked at him confusedly.

"Huh...? But it was really easy. All you had to do was aim at the target and fire" Shiro said matter-of-factly still maintaining his facadé, until Inori walked over to him and pat his head in a motherly way, which caused the boy to blush slightly and look away.

"Where did you learn that?" Inori asked curiously.

"I just watched what the others were doing" Shiro said matter-of-factly and casually with a shrug while still looking a bit uncomfortable with the physical contact.

It wasn't completely a lie, Shiro doubted that he would be able to get the same results if he hadn't observed a few newbies first, but he also got a strange inkling that he had done this before...like his muscles remembered the all too familiar sensation of aiming and pulling the trigger.

How strange...

"You okay there, Hare?" Shu's worried voice managed to snap Hare out of her reverie. Blniking a few times, she then started to look at Shiro with a dumbfounded look. She knew that she was the one whi brought him here to train how to use a gun, but at the time he expected him to be a bit more...reluctant and hesitant; she assumed that she had never done this before. So seeing him, not only holding the gun with a proper stance, but also never missing the target once, was enough to surprise her. Hare then nodded at the brunette king, before looking at Shiro with a pout.

"Geez, Shiro, you could've told me that you were already good at this before we got here" she said with playfully narrowed eyes.

"But I've never even _done_ any of this before...at least I don't think I have. I just watched what the others were doing and immitated them...it's just a natural talent I guess" He said in his defense with an innocent and oblivious tone coloring his voice.

"Still, if you're already this good, should you even train here?" Hare said with a questioning expression, but Ayase was the one who interjected

"Even though you're somesort of marksman, that doesn't excuse him from training. Since he's a pretty good shot, you can just leave him here to train with the rest." Ayase said with a smile. While Inori, Shu and Hare nodded at the suggestion, Shiro felt a bit more reluctant saying...

"Are you sure, Ayase-nee-chan? I'd hate to cause you any trouble." Shiro said with a bit of concern, while subconsciously eying her wheelchair.

This little tangent was answered by several responses; Shu smiling knowingly with closed eyes, Inori giving the boy a smile of pity, Hare cringing in anticipation, and Ayase putting on a sickeningly sweet smile as she extended her hand. Well, this can't possibly end good.

"That's awfully kind of you, Shiro" Ayase said with the same sweet voice, while Shiro just looked at her hand with uncertainty.

For some unknown reason, Shiro felt a horrible premonition about the scenario...that he chose to ignore.

"It's alr-"

He didn't even get to finish his last sentence because the next thing he knew he was on the floor looking up at them with a dazed expression looking like he didn't have any idea what had just transpired in the last few miliseconds.

...

After being left with Ayase for a few minutes, Shiro got the same results with his targets; regardless of what caliber weapon he was using. Seeing as that there was very little for him to improve on when it comes to his marksman skills, Ayase decided to pass him on to Haruka and Keido.

They never really got a confirmation of what Shu really was; Genesis or Human. So Ayase thought that it would be slightly helpful for him and the rest of the gang to know what he really was. Besides, she thought that Shiro would feel a bit better after finding out something about himself that he didn't exactly know; with his amnesia and all.

Haruka and Keido have always been busy running tests on the Genesis ever since funeral parlor was estavlished a few days ago. They were genuinely curious on what makes them different, how they improved, what were their limits, etc. So they should be able to tell whether Shiro was a Genesis or not with just a few tests. With that said, they entered a room filled with several viles, tubes, beds, tread mills, other futuristic looking machinery that Ayase failed to distinguish, and a lot of Genesis hooked up on machines, while performing their own respective tasks. Seriously, did they just walk in one of those super soldier programs or something

Even though this room was huge and was filled with a lot of people they managed to find Haruka and Keido, while they were observing a Genesis wearing something that looked like VR goggles with wires sticking out every which way.

"So, was the subject able to pass all the requirements" Ayase said with a voice and tone that sounded like a mad scientist from an old movie inquiring on their latest experiment. This in turn earned her a good-natured laugh and a glare.

"This is not a cliché mad scientist movie, this is actual work that needs to be taken seriously" Keido replied with a glare, while Haruka just laughed in good nature.

"Oh give her a break, Keido." Haruka said cheerfully, before turning to Ayase and Shiro. "Evening, Ayase and...oh...who's this?" Haruka eyed Shiro playfully, which in turn made him look at her obliviously and innocently with his red eyes. Haruka seemed to have lost her composure and looked at the boy with shock. She started to look like she was visibly trying to make sense of what she was seeing right now; Red eyes plastered on a 12-year-old brunette boy's face.

She knew that it was impossible and that she was just being silly, but the evidence that was staring right in the face (literally) was keeping her from forming any rational thoughts and explanations. Her mind was filled with nothing, the thought of her being the grandma to Shu and Inori's **twelve year old son.** However, her brain offered nothing further than _does not compute._

Luckily, before her brain could get fried with the extra processing power, Ayase had decided to pipe in.

"His features are probably just a coincidence, Hare found him outside and we sort of decided to let him join instead of leaving him out in Tokyo by himself" Ayase said with a small amused smile directed towards the now mellowing red face of Shu's stepmom; visibly calming down after that explanation. Keido, on the other hand, didn't take too kindly to what they had he had just heard Ayase say.

"And you all thought that bringing in a child to a terrorist group aiming to prevent the fifth apocalypse was a good idea?" Keido said with a disapproving and disbelieving tone coloring his voice. Keido thought that this was beyond ludicrous; letting a twelve-year-old join funeral parlor?! They were a terrorist group not a day care center. "Honestly, what is it with you kids these days" he grumbled, much to Ayase's irrtation as she narrowed her eyes at the former Daath member.

"Well, it's certainly better than leaving him out on the streets to die, while getting in the crossfire" Ayase said witha bit of venom in her voice.

"thousands of people in Tokyo that are simply trying to survive are in the crossfire, what difference does one child make?"

"For one thing, he's quite the marksman, better than any of the newbies out there anyway." Ayase said with a bit of pride and irritation.

"So, you're sending a child out in the frontlines?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, which earned hima terrifying glare from the endlave pilot.

"You tell me? Weren't you the one who was trapped in the void realm for the last five years? Do you think Inori would send him out on the frontlines?" Ayase said in Shiro's defense.

"So what is the use of a marksman, if you can't send him in the frontlines. Not only will it be a waste of supplies, but of potential firepower as well." Keido argued, slightly getting irritated with this argument.

"How about having some extra firepower back at home, did you think of that?" Ayase yelled in her frustration. Shiro had potential, despite being burdened by his memory loss, so the fact that someone was saying otherwise sort of got Ayase riled up for some reason.

"So our last line of defense is 12-year-old. I'm so relieved" Keido said with a voice dripping of sarcasm.

The tension between the two had visibly gotten palpable and tangible and the silence (minus the beeping noises from the machines) didn't help defuse the situation either. Haruka, who had just gotten over her bearing, was the one who got in between the two.

"Okay will you two stop it already, especially you, Keido!" Haruka simply stared disapprovingly at her brother, which was responded by a "hmph" Honestly, his brother could be so unreasonable sometimes. She wasn't really at ease with the idea of involving a twelve year old either, but since Shu and Inori thought it was okay and considering the information that Ayase told in her argument...

She couldn't help, but feel proud at her son. The mere fact that his son and his girlfriend had taken in this young boy, who has practically lost everything he once had, inspite of their current situation just made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. It just goes to show, that deep down he was still the kind and wimpy boy that he had been despite, maturing these past 5 years and the fact that this boy was standing here was proof of that.

"So, Ayase, who is this boy?" Haruka decided to change the topic. Ayase tore her glare away from Keido and answered Haruka with a small smile.

"This is Shiro, apparently, Hare found him outside the hideout and then we decided to test him out for the next week, to see if he can make it as an undertaker." Ayase explained with a shrug, while eying the boy with a small smile; ignoring the scoff that came from Keido.

"A twelve year old marksman that Hare just stumbled on, huh?" Haruka said amusedly while playfully rubning her chin in mock thought, while eying the boy in question, whose expression had shifted from a determined glare directed towards Keido to his oblivious expression when he looked at Haruka. Haruka then bent down to his level.

"Hello there, Shiro. You can call me Haruka" she stated with her well-known affectionate voice that she uses for Shu. Truth be told, she was beginning to treat her like how she treated Shu when _he_ was only twelve years old.

"Ha-ru-ka?" Haruka simply nodded encouragingly.

"Say Shiro, what brings you here?" She asked, but Shiro only looked at Ayase; who was as tall as he was because of her wheelchair.

"Well, he's kind of special, so I thought you'd like a new science project to work on" Ayase said with a shrug, but before Haruka could respond, Keido decided to interject.

"This is not some high school science fair! What we are doing here is serious, therefore we cannot afford to waste any time on some boy that you found outside. If anything, we're trying to find the extent of our allies' abilities. Now if you'll excuse us..." Keido grabbed Ayase's arm and was about to guide her out, when another hand grabbed Keido's by his wrist.

They all looked at Shiro...only to see him glaring determinedly at Keido.

Keido, for his part, felt slightly shocked and mostly dumbfounded by this development. Not because a boy was standing up to him, but because said boy was actually capable of restricting his arm's movements and that he actually felt uncomfortable under this boy's grip. He had evolved, so a human shouldn't be capable of restricting him like this, let alone a twelve-year-old boy.

Ayase, on the other hand, looked irritated by Keido's hand, but that irritaion quickly turned into shock when she saw Shiro's hand. When she looked at Shiro before, she had only seen an innocent boy who appeared to be lost in a world he didn't understand, but now all he could see was a boy who was determined to do anything to keep her safe. At first, she thought that this was impulsive and pointless, since Keido had evolved, but for some reason Shiro was actually restricting him, which was the source of her shock.

Shiro, for his part, caught himself off guard with what he was doing right now, but he didn't withdraw. He had felt irritated with the newbie before for underestimating him, but this feeling was different. He felt as if Ayase was in danger and that he should...no... _had_ to do something to stop it. Before he could stop himself, he had grabbed Keido's hand, which was on Ayase's arm quickly and harshly. Along with the emotion of anger, he felt a very peculiar sensation, like warm water was flowing through his frame. It was more focused on his hand and arm, but he could feel the same sensation over his whole body, though fainter.

Haruka, for her part, looked like she was about to protest and give her brother a scolding, but stopped halfway when Shiro grabbed Keido by the arm. Her first response was to restrain his brother, should he do anything too rash, but her expression gradually slackened and turned into to curiosity, when she saw that Keido wasn't able to break free; that he was being held back by Shiro. Ayase told her that she was special, but she never expected this...a boy who's stronger than a grown Genesis man...

"Let, Ayase-nee-chan, go" Shiro voice slowly left his mouth and sounding through the room; seething with a determined and angry voice.

Keido just scoffed, still looking a bit shocked by the fact that he still couldn't break free from his grip. He obsevred Shiro only narrowed his eyes; his anger growing more evident. Then his eyes widened when he saw... _no...it had to be his imagination...that was utterly ridiculous._

The sound of bone protesting as it was being bended and broken in an unnatural way filled the silence in the room, as Keido's expression distorted with disbelief and pain while Shiro started to bend his forearm in his anger.

The fact that this human boy was, not only capable of restricting his movement, but also breaking and bending his arm was enough to shock Keido into letting go of Ayase's arm and stepping back in surprise and found himself still be restrained by Shiro's grip. Shiro had let go shortly after that, but the determined glare never left his face.

"Don't. Hurt. Ayase-nee-chan. Again." Shiro made sure to emphasize every word to get his point across.

Keido could only stare at his now broken forearm in disbelief and intrigue. Just a few seconds ago, he had mocked this boy for being too weak to be an undertaker and now said boy had just caused him a major injury; HIM an evolved **Genesis**. There was clearly more to this boy than meets the eye and that was something he and Haruka had to find out. Despite the pain he was feeling right now, he felt like a new scientific venture and discovery has just been laid out in front of him; one that was too good to ignore. This could turn the tides for this war.

"Haruka, I'm going to get my arm fixed" looking and sounding slightly dazed as he robotically went out the room.

Shiro, slightly looking surprised by his sudden outburst, looked at the door where Keido had disappeared to with mild shock.

"Oh." He then turned to Haruka while repeatedly bowing. " S-sorry, Haruka-nee-chan, I didn't mean to do that much. He was about to hurt Ayase-nee-chan and I just stopped him"

Partially recovering from the initial shock, Haruka offered Shiro dismissive waves of her hand and said immediately and flusteredly.

"O-oh you don't have to worry about that. Keido can be a real jerk sometimes, it's good to see him put in his place once in a while." Haruka said with an awkward scratch of her head and nervous laughing. In truth, she felt the same intrigue that Keido had felt before.

Shiro then turned to Ayase, about to the same thing, but she just rubbed the top of his head affectionately and reassuringly before he could get the chance.

"You don't have to worry about that, he deserved it" Ayase said witha smirk on her face, which brought a smile on Shiro's face.

However, Ayase couldn't help, but think about what had just happened. She looked Haruka who gave her a look that assured her that they were having the same thought.

There was more to Shiro than meets the eye.

...

...

 **And that concludes the first chapter for my first attempt at a guilty crown story.**

 **Once again I'd like to thank GuiltyKingOumaShu for lending me his setting and mechanics, which will be used in the future chapters, as well as, reviewing. :)**

 **Once again, I encourage you all to leave a review and feel free to follow/favorite my little story.**


	3. Life with Shiro

**Hello everyone, I'm here to bring you the second official chapter (not counting the prologue) of Our little one, but before we get to that I have a few things to say.**

 **First, this is going to be yet another relatively light chapter, but despite that the undertakers are still at war, okay? That hasn't changed, I just want to build up the character development for my OC, since you'll need to understand how he thinks and what the others think of him for you to understand the plot.**

 **That said, this chapter will mainly be focused on character interactions with Shiro and what they think of him, just like GKOS was curious about.**

 **Second, you know how some stories have an arc within an arc? That's going to be how this story will be written. In other words, under the lost and found arc, the last chapter began the "undertaker exam" arc.**

 **Did you get it? Under one arc there will be several mini arcs, okay?**

 **Third, Disclaimer: Reclaiming the throne is the property of GuiltyKingOumaShu, loaded with direct references to the Guilty Crown series as well as their properties. I do not claim ownership over anything pertaining to the Reclaiming the throne story or the Guilty Crown series.**

 **Lastly, I only barrowed the** _ **setting**_ **of the reclaiming the throne story, not the plot because I have my own plot in mind for this little story of mine and because this a fanfic under the "family" genre. Besides, if I were to use the same plot as reclaiming the throne, then there wouldn't be any surprises anymore, right? I'll be adding my own mechanics and plot twists as well, so expect the unexpected guys.**

 **No hard feelings, GuiltyKingOumaShu :D**

 **With that out of the way, on with the show.**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 2: Life with Shiro**

 **...**

 **...**

"Okay, so just to see if we understand, Ayase brought Shiro to the lab to Haruka and Keido, Keido made a few snarky remarks, Shiro got angry, and broke his forearm" Yahiro said with thick derision. With the situation being retold in such a manner, it certainly _did_ sound ridiculous.

Following a few tests conducted yesterday on Shiro, everyone of importance was gathered in the meeting lounge that they all went to whenever they discussed their plans and their next moves to infiltrate loop seven. Shu, Inori, Tsugumi, Ayase, Yahiro, Hare, Jun, Haruka and Keido were all seated around the round table. In front of them floated the holo screens of the results of Shiro's full physical examination that Haruka and Keido had conducted yesterday.

They had given Shiro the same tests that they had used to test the Genesis, considering the latest mishap that happened, they didn't waste any effort on trying to decipher Shiro's capabilities and limits, but the results only dumbfounded them in the end.

"You deserved it, if you asked me." Tsugumi said with huff and a glare directed towards the Genesis man, before turning into a mischievous smile. "Bet that was a huge blow to your ego, huh? Big, bad, evolved, Genesis, Keido getting his butt kicked by a twelve year old"

This earned her a few supressed chuckles and a glare in return.

"This is no laughing matter, something is different about that boy" Keido said in a calm tone, albeit angrily. He didn't think this was something they should take lightly and the fact that they were treating this as some kind of joke at his expense, wasn't really something he appreciated.

"Okay okay" Shu said trying to calm things down, while having a small smile on his face. He was clearly enjoying himself, but deep down he also knew that there was something wrong with the situation, which made him worry. He had allowed Shiro to stay with them because he had assumed that he was normal defenseless human boy, but the recent mishap seems to say otherwise. "So what happened with Shiro's test yesterday?" He asked, while looking at his mother.

Haruka simply gave him a smile before pointing to the holoscreens that were showing Shiro's latest physical test results. Of course, most of which were too technical in terminology for him and the others to understand...well maybe not Tsugumi. However, Haruka was the one who explained the results in an casual and bewildered voice.

"Based on his physical exams" Haruka said, while her voice became more distant. "He's not a Genesis" she started calmly, much to the confusion of everybody present, while Keido only chose to grumble:

"Tell that to my forearm" which Haruka chose to ignore as she explained further.

"His stamina, strength, speed, agility, alertness, reflexes, senses, and his overall physiology is above average for humans in the same age group, yet they're too low when compared to Genesis of the same age group" Haruka explained with a bewildered tone, while the others listened in silence. Ordinarily, this was nothing to be bewildered about; Shiro could simply have more potential than kids of the same age or has been raised to be this way. However, the fact that he had been able to not only restrain, but break Keido's forearm was something they could not overlook. Even if Shiro _was_ a Genesis he shouldn't have been able to break the arm of an older Genesis with the utmost of ease. "Add that to the fact that he can't seem to access his void, or know anything about voids in general, I think it's safe to say that he's not Genesis" Haruka didn't bother mentioning the fact, that neither Inori nor Hare recognized him.

After that there was only silence in the room. Being able to draw out a void was one of the defining traits of the Genesis. The fact that Shiro wasn't able to do so was more than enough evidence that he was not Genesis. So if that was the case...how was Shiro able to break Keido's forearm. Even if he _was_ a Genesis, he shouldn't be able to do that, since Keido would be more superior in terms of physical durability due to their age difference. So the question was...

Just what kind of boy is Shiro?

"Wait, but you said the he broke Keido's forearm..." Argo said as he visibly tried to make sense of the situation. Ayase only nodded at him, while Keido merely narrowed his eyes. "but you're saying he's not Genesis either..." He eyed Haruka who only nodded at him.

Consciously, Argo started to feel anxious about Shiro because of the conclusion Haruka and Keido had managed to reach; he was starting to fear the unknown. Just who _was_ this Shiro character for him to be able to break a grown Genesis man's forearm, yet not be a Genesis himself; the feeling was similar to how most of the humans were anxious about the Genesis. The only difference was that Shiro was something else entirely; something that was potentially stronger than the fully-evolved Genesis. The thought sent shivers down his spine.

However, subconsciously, he felt that his worries and his anxiousness were for naught. Sure he still felt a bit apprenhensive since Shiro was an unknown entity from the moment Haruka announced that he wasn't a Genesis, but his intution told him that he shouldn't worry about it or put too much thought into it. Although, It could have just been the fact that Shiro was on _their_ side and nothing more, but the Genesis were on their side as well, yet he wasn't at ease with them. How confusing...

"This doesn't make any sense" Keido grumbled in his mortification as he took a look at his _no longer broken forearm._

Keido was a bit mortified and slightly disappointed with the results that they had managed to achieve. The former daath member had been hoping that Shiro was something that was worth studying; a possible being that was superior to the Genesis. However, his expectations were met with disappointment as the test results only told him that Shiro was nothing more than a 12 year old boy with more potential than most of the undertakers. He wasn't entirely convinced with the results they had performed, especially since he saw a faint glimpse of something, when Shiro restrained him.

"Better believe it Keido, but you're not planning on looking like you've seen a ghost everytime you meet him, right?" Ayase said with a superior smirk on her face, which made Keido glare back.

"One little incident is not enough for me to resort to cowardice" Keido said with closed eyes in irritation. "I admit that I was taken aback, but that will not happen more than once"

"I don't know about that, you looked pretty scared, while you were looking at his test results" Shu said with a small smirk gracing his lips. He may have had similar thoughts revolving around his head earlier, but seeing the former Daath member so shaken up was enough to amuse him.

"You _did_ look mortified, when you came to Hare yesterday. You looked like you had just stared death in the eyes" Inori said with a cute smile gracing her lips as Hare giggled at the memory.

She had decided to visit Hare while she was in the infirmary, when a mortified and robotic Keido walked in asking for healing assistance in a voice that sounded like he had just lost all meaning and will to live and while Hare was healing him, Keido kept mumbling assurnaces to himself, as if he was trying to mend his self-esteem.

"Still haven't met this Shiro fella yet, but I'm liking him already." Jun said with a big and amused smile on his face. It's true that he wasn't able to meet Shiro yesterday, since he was busy with assigning tasks here in the base, but that didn't mean that he wasn't informed of his arrival. A lot of gossip and rumors have already spread around the hideout amongst the humans and Genesis and most of which managed to find their way to Jun, but he didn't really believe some of them because they were too utterly ridiculous.

Some of the Genesis said that they had, as they put it, " _seen their long lost prince_ " or that their king and queen had " _finally reunited with their prodigal son"_ Like he said: **ridiculous.**

In any case, he was curious about who Shiro _really_ was.

Speaking of the brown-haired, red-eyed devil, Shiro had just opened the door that led to the meeting room and walked over to Inori with a more confident smile adourning his face, compared to yesterday that is. He was a bit bemused and confused yesterday, but now it looked like he had taken a complete 180 by walking around the hideout like he had lived his whole life there. The best description for him now was a young boy who had lived in a quiet and happy town for the last 12 years. How he was able to get so comfortable so quickly, they had no idea.

"You wanted to see me, Inori-nee-chan?" Shiro asked, while Inori merely rubbed his head in a motherly way. The sensation felt somewhat familiar to Inori and at the same time very foreign. She _had_ done the same to the other kids who were trapped in the void realm, but the feeling was different when she did it to Shiro...how peculiar.

"W-wait this is Shiro?" Jun said in a disbelieving tone as he took in the scene in front of him with wide eyes. Shiro then turned to him, whilst staring at him with his red eyes. His head turned to look at the queen, who was looking at him amusedly, then to Shiro. To his queen, then to Shiro. He alternated glances so quickly and abruptly that Yahiro was worried that he would sprain his neck. However, he didn't look like Haruka, who acted like a panicking mother who was unaware of a 12 year old grandson's existence. He looked more like a trusted and appreciated friend of the king and queen who couldn't believe that there was a prince in existence. For someone who had spent the last five years as a vizier of sorts for his queen, he felt like he had commited an unpardonable act of treason by not even _knowing_ of the prince's existence, which was the reason for his reaction.

Jun's mind was trying to comprehend what his eyes were seeing right now. He tried reasoning with his absurd thoughts, but just like Haruka his mind offered nothing other than _does not compute_. Jun looked like his brain was about to get fried, when he spoke with a tone that sounded like a mix of relief, astonishment, shock, joy, and rejoicment, albeit sounding forced, mechanical and robotic.

"So the rumors are true...the long lost prince has finally returned." Jun said with slightly teary eyes, which made everyone look at him in disbelief, while Shiro looked at him in confusion. "My queen, why have you never told us about him in your stories?"

"That's probably because there was nothing to tell in the first place" Shu said calmly, but his face had a very obvious shade of pink. He didn't particularly _hate_ being labeled as the boy'a father, but he didn't really like it either. The concept of building a family and becoming wasn't really something he was comfortable with at the moment.

That's when something dropped on him like a load of bricks, causing him to open his eyes wide. He just hoped that this conversation won't head into the direction he feared.

Inori merely tilted her head at Jun in confusion. "How would he be a prince?"

"Well, if Shiro is your child with Shu, then that would make him a prince. Since your the king and queen. He's your child isn't he?" Jun asked in confusion, only to see Inori shaking her head.

"No..." That's when a previous conversation held in the void realm with a certain jamaican...or youth from the dominican republic came to the pink-haired vocalist's mind. "Shu, what does Juan and Jun mean? How are we capable of having children of our own? "

Just as Shu feared. he thought that Inori would have forgotten about that little conversation when they left the void realm, but Jun's little tangent, apparently, refreshed her memory. Shu's face resembled more of a tomato with how red it was. He really didn't want to talk about this now of all times.

"Ummm...maybe we can delay this kind of talk for a later date?" Shu said lamely as he averted his gaze. Well he couldn't really think of a better excuse, so he just hoped that Inori would go along with it, but the pink-haired vocalist wasn't having it.

"You said that in the void realm as well" she said with narrowed eyes in suspicion. She _had_ forgotten about her little conversation with Juan before just now. She could understand Shu not wanting to talk about it because of the deadline they were under before, but now that said deadline didn't apply anymore, she couldn't see the problem.

"Don't you want kids of your own, Shu-onii-chan?" Shu mechanically turned his head to look at the completely oblivious and innocent expression plastered on Shiro's face; completely unaware of what he had just done. This little remark only succeeded in pressing the matter further as Inori narrowed her eyes even more; sending a clear message to Shu: "Don't you?"

In a desperate attempt, Shu looked around the table; searching for help. However, Tsugumi was only grinning like a cheshire cat, Yahiro was wearing a smirk that said "you're on your own", Ayase was blushing and turned away angrily, Jun was offering him an apologetic smile, Hare was looking like she was having consecutive heart attacks as she hyperventilated and blushed, Argo had his eyes closed in quiet amusement, Haruka was visibly mulling over the possibility of becoming a real grandma and Keido simply looked indifferent.

"ummm...Inori, didn't you call Shiro here for a different reason?" Shu asked with a bit of worry and anxiety that was not related to his embarassment. It's true that something was bothering him now. Before, he had come to the conclusion that Shiro was a harmless boy who had nothing anymore therefore there was no problem, but now it turns out that he could be more than a match for a grown Genesis. The thought of a mere child being possibly superior to the Genesis was enough to put him on high alert, question everyone's safety, and doubt Shiro's harmlessness. Right now, Shiro was a possible threat and one glance at Inori was enough to let him know that she had felt the same way.

Shu didn't suspect Shiro per se, but who could blame him for wanting to play it safe after walking to another one of Da'ath's traps. Right now, he wasn't going to leave anything to chance; he was going to weigh the risks. This little incident may have succeeded in putting him on the edge of his seat in alert, but he had an inkling that this wasn't nearly as bad as he was making it out to be. How strange...

Inori seemed to have known what her beloved king meant so she nodded with a knowing look, softened her gaze and turned to Shiro, much to the relief and disbelief of the brunette king, but he really did want to tackle this mystery with Shiro's immense strength before anything else. For all they knew, he could kill someone with one of his outbursts.

"Shiro. I wanted to talk to you about a certain incident yesterday." Inori said with a kind and somehow chastising smile on her face; an expression she often used when chastising a kid or two back in the void realm.

Shiro seemed to have picked up on the mood quickly, which is why he smiled at Inori and nodded before heading next to Keido, who flinched at the young boy's mere prescence. Inori could only watch on with a smile, while Shu could just look from her queen and the young boy with awe. They've only met each other for less than 24 hours, yet they seem to share a common understanding, he supposed that it was just because of her being a replacement mother for the kids in the void realm; developing a way of connecting with kids in just a few words. The rest of the gang merely watched with small smiles, though some being more cautious than others, as they watched as Shiro bowed deeply to the former Daath member.

"I'm sorry for breaking your forearm yesterday, Keido-nii-chan." The gesture was so cute and innocent that Haruka had to supress a squeal and the urge to wrap him in a bear hug. The rest of the gang seemed to watch in content, until Shiro continued. "Though you shouldn't have grabbed Ayase-nee-chan's arm in the first place, if you were going to let me stay in the lab room either way. I wouldn't have needed to break your arm that way, you should've thought of that sooner. "

The fact that he dropped _that_ bomb with a straight, innocent, and oblivious expression plastered on his face filled the room with supressed chuckles Ironically, Shiro's little outburst _was_ the reason why he was allowed to stay in the lab, but he seems to be very much oblivious to this fact, as proven by his previous dialogue.

This caused a few supressed chuckles at the former Daath member's teeth that were in frustration. Shiro, for his part, only looked at Keido in the eye with an oblivious, yet serious expression on his face. Keido didn't really know whether the cause of his irritation was the fact that Shiro was blaming _him_ for the breaking of his own arm or the fact that he actually seemed to believe this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Shiro's obliviousness, cluelessness, and simple-mindedness was so evident and obvious that he started question why he even, for a second, thought that this boy was a worthwhile ally that was worth studying...oh right he saw a faint glimmer of something when the boy restrained him...he suppose that he was wrong...

"You're blaming _me_ for breaking my own forearm?" Keido asked in disbelief and irritation, which caused a few giggles from everyone present. Seeing the former Daath member lose his cool to a twelve year old was just too priceless. Shiro only nodded to that question.

"Yes, I did that because you were about to hurt Ayase-nee-chan, you only grabbed Ayase-nee-chan because you didn't want me to stay in the lab, but you let me stay in the end. So It's your fault." Shiro said with an oblivious and serious expression. The way he explained the logic, it looked like the roles a reversed; Keido was now the one who was looking stupid and oblivious. This little dialogue only succeeded in frustrating the Genesis man even further, as indicated by the growing pulse marks on his forehead and gritted teeth, and filling the room with laughter.

Seriously, this kid is...was this boy even serious? Was he so oblivious that he didn't even seem to realize how things really were? Was he so simple-minded that _this_ was how he viewed the incident? Keido waited in frustration for any chnage in the boy's expression; for realization to finally dawn on him.

However, the longer he waited, the more irritated and impatient he became because Shiro showed no signs of realization; his expression never faltered nor fazed. It would appear that Shiro firmly believed in what he had just said and the fact that Keido couldn't really argue with the young boy's logic was simply beyond frustrating; is he really losing an argument to a 12 year old?

"Shiro, did you really break his arm?" Inori asked with a gentle smile to get the boy's attention. Afterall, she had called him here to try and unravel the mystery of his sudden outburst of strength. They couldn't really question him if he was human or not, since he had no memories of his past life, so she was just going to ask him directly about how he was able to do such a thing. Surely she would remember what happened during that time, though it was possible for him to not be aware of the mechanics of his little feat. Just like Shu, Inori felt apprehension towards Shiro for him being an unknown entity and a possible threat and just like her king, she had a hunch that her worry was for naught. Maybe it was the innocent expression on his face, his simple-mindedness or the feeling of her own eyes looking back at her that made her feel ease, but she wasn't going to take any chances; she had to be certain about what Shiro really was.

Shiro just nodded at the pink-haired vocalist with the still oblivious expression to respond to her question.

"How?" Inori asked cautiously, but with the same smile on her face.

"Like this..." As Shiro said that he began reaching for Keido's forearm again, but before he could the former Da'ath member had already jumped out of his seat and put a fair amount of distance between the brunette boy, causing a few giggles from the girls and a few chuckles from the boys. They may have been allies now, but they still felt petty amusement at their former enemy looking so scared and by **12 year old boy** no less.

"What happened to 'One little incident is not enough for me to resort to cowardice'" Tsugumi said with a mischievous grin in her best immitation of Keido's voice.

"Not so high and mighty now that you got your butt kicked by twelve year old, huh?" Ayase said with a smug smile on her face.

The others, mainly Yahiro and Argo, did laugh a bit in amusement, but this little display only succeeded in raising their alertness and apprehensiveness towards the young boy even higher. Afterall, Keido can't be bested by normal means and rarely lost his cool and composure, so the fact that a young boy managed to do both gave them all the more reason to perceive him as a danger.

Shiro only looked at Keido with yet another oblivious expression, before he turned and walked over to Inori and Shu. When he was directly in front of them his gaze turned apologetic as he bowed deeply.

"I'm sorry Inori-nee-chan, Shu-nii-chan, but I don't really know how I broke his arm, I just got angry and it happened before I knew what I could think about doing it." He said as he rose from his bow. This dialogue, however, only succeeded in making Shu flustered and Inori smile cutely.

"Uh..er..um, t-that's okay..." King or not he wasn't used to being apologized and treated like this, which was evident by his awkwardness. He has definitely grown a lot during the last five years, but some part of him was still the same awkward, dense, and lame teenager that he once was, which was shown in rare instances like this. "J-just promise not to do it again"

To the king's surprise, Shiro didn't agree with the statement because the boy only only shook his head looked at him seriously and determinedly. The sensation felt like when Inori would look at him determinedly, when she didn't agree with something. Maybe it was because of the red eyes?...whatever the reason Shu couldn't form a conscious response under the boy's piercing gaze.

"Why?" Inori was the one who asked the boy with a curious tone.

"Because what if Keido-nii-chan or someone else tried to hurt Ayase-nee-chan, Tsugumi-nee-chan, Hare-nee-chan or somebody else" Inori could only stare back at the determined red irises that were looking right at her. "Then I wouldn't be able to do anything, but watch them get hurt...I don't want them to get hurt, I won't _let_ anyone hurt them, that's why I can't agree to it" the burning determination in Shiro's red eyes were impossible to doubt nor question, which caused the rest of the room to stare at him in awe. The way he said those words he sounded like he would do anything to live up to it, with little regards to his own well-being.

Back in the void realm, a lot of her followers had all declared their loyalty to her almost instantly, so she shouldn't be so taken aback by this, but those people merely did so because they wanted her to be their queen instead of Mana. With Shiro it was different; she could feel that the reason behind his determination was different. It was more intense; his determination extended far beyond that of a follower to his queen. If Inori had to make a comparison, then it was similar to how Shu wanted to protect everyone, but instead of unnerving her, she felt comfort and relief in it.

However, Inori couldn't help, but question the reason behind such a declaration. Shiro had only known them for slightly more than a day (which was technically as far as he knew as long as his whole life); they were practically strangers to each other, so why was he saying such things and with burning determination and passion no less? Was it because he felt indebted to them since Hare saved his life? Was it because he had no where else to go and was simply trying to earn his keep?

No, that wasn't it, if Shiro had ulterior motives like those she would've seen it, but Shiro showed no such thing; it was similar to how her followers vowed to serve her, yet at the same time completely different. Furthermore, Inori had a hunch that this wasn't nearly as complicated and intricate as she was making it out to be, so was it simply because that this is how Shiro really was? A boy who was so simple-minded, determined, oblivious, and innocent that as far as he was concerned the undertakers were his allies? Allies that he needed to protect no matter the cost? Regardless of how long they had met? Well, his previous dialogue would definitely support that theory of hers, but where has she seen this before...

She turned to look at her king who looked on at the boy with awe and disbelief; telling her that he was having similar thoughts. That's right, it reminded her so much of Shu; protecting everyone he loved with no regards to his own well-being. However, Shu had come a long way to get to that point, he didn't do something like this after just a day.

Shiro, for his part, didn't care about the little details; these people were people he had to protect, **Period**. He didn't even care about the fact that he had only met them for little over a day, as far as he was concerned the people who surrounded him now were the people he had to protect no matter the cost. It was almost like some part of him was telling him to protect these people because if he didn't, he would lose them. He didn't want to lose them.

For the people around him, this _should've_ looked rather silly, funny, and downright ridiculous, but for some reason they couldn't bring themselves to giggle or smirk, they could only look at the young boy with awe; seemingly rendered speechless by such a bold declaration that had the determination and passion to support it granted some of them still doubted the authenticity of the boy's feelings.

"and What if something like yesterday _did_ happen what would you do?" Keido asked with a scoff and an amused look on his face. For him, this boy was in way over his head that it was beyond laughable. Apparently, he was the only one who didn't appear to be affected by the boy's proclamation; he simply dismissed it as childish determination that will easily waver, given the right hindrance.

Shiro only turned to him with an oh-so familiar determined glare that actually made Keido flinch and take a step back.

"I would break your forearm again"

"Tch." Keido said in disgust, but got a bit wide-eyed when he saw...no it couldn't be...that was impossible..."Some human you are, you're threatening a Genesis" he continued with a disbelieving tone.

In return, Shiro's expression only reverted to one of innocent confusion.

"You're letting a human threaten you, you're some Genesis" he said in a bemused tone.

And with that, the previous atmosphere dissolved into a lighter one as everybody tried to stiffle their laughter at Keido's frustrated expression.

...

After the little meeting everyone had resumed their respective tasks. Tsugumi, in particular, was just about to continue her information gathering in her room, when she noticed that her beloved Funell was being amusedly watched by a certain 12 year old brunette in the corridor and by the sounds of all the laughter that was coming from the young boy, he was defintely enjoying himself and the fact that Funell was the source of his enjoyment made her feel a strange kind of warmth.

Tsugumi couldn't really view the young boy as anything other than someone who had previously had nothing left. In a way, she could relate with him, not in the sense that she had amnesia or was constantly mistaken as a prince, but she could relate in the sense that he had nothing left, when they found him. She used to be an orphan who had little to nothing and he couldn't remember what he once had. While Tsugumi was all alone during her childhood, Shiro on the other hand, just couldn't remember if he used to be alone or not, which is pretty much the same. She knew how he must be feeling right now because she's been there, but now, just like her, he had found a place here in the undertakers and before long he'll probably make a lot friends, what with that simple-minded personality of his. She was sure of it.

She then shook her previous thoughts away. Jeez, since when did she sound all big sister-y all of a sudden.

She was then brought out of her thoughts, when said Brunette boy walked over to her with Funell in hand and a bright smile on his face.

"Tsugumi-nee-chan, look I found this really cool robot roaming around" Shiro said excitedly with sparkling eyes as he held up her precious creation. She couldn't help, but put on a proud and smug smirk on her face. She tended to do that when someone would praise her inventions. If somebody actually _bothered_ to praise her creations, which wasn't too often.

"Hoh, so I see that Funell has you impressed, huh?" She said with a mischievous and proud expression on her face, while Shiro only nodded in agreement with a beaming expression.

"mhm. Funell? Is that his name?" Shiro asked to which the dark-haired hacker only nodded, before he continued his beaming by holding up the robot in question. "He's so cool, he can walk around like he was some sort of person, show a holoscreen, play music...and a whole bunch of other things" Shiro said excitedly.

"Well, you know that's not all he can do, you know?" Tsugumi said with a smile on her lips, clearly enjoying the fawning for his little creation. Shiro seemed to stare at her in disbelief.

"Eh? There's more?" Came Shiro's excited and shocked response.

"Of course" said the dark-haired hacker who was clearly relishing in the praise. "He can shock an attacker with his stun gun, print documents and pictures, access the internet, hack through servers, and a whole lot more" Tsugumi proclaimed excitedly, which only succeeded in making the brunette beam even more.

"Whoa! So cool! Where did you buy him?" This in turn was rewarded with the plug-suit wearing hacker pouting at the boy, eying him with narrowed eyes and closing up on his face, which made him slightly nervous and uncomfortable. Did he say something wrong?

"Buy? What makes you think that I bought my precious Funell?" She asked with a suspicious and accusing tone, though it still looked cute and not at all threatening. Shiro could only look at the accusing gaze of the hacker; unsure of how he was supposed to react. Then realization finally reached the brunette boy a bit later as indicated by his widening eyes.

"Eh? You didn't buy him?" Shiro asked with wide-eyes, which only made Tsugumi narrow her eyes even more accusingly as she put her hands on her hips, while leaning closer to Shiro's face. She raised her eyebrow displeasedly, she felt like she was being underestimated, then Shiro responded.

"Then you made him?!" Shiro asked excitedly, while looking at Tsugumi's dark blue eyes with pure excitement, which defused the hacker's offended mood, as indicated by the small smile on her face. "Really?! That's amazing! You must be really smart, Tsugumi-nee-chan" Shiro declared in his excitement. Tsugumi only relished in the praise that she was being showered in by the brunette boy and the thought that said boy may _not have the slightest clue of what she had just said because of his amnesia,_ never even crossed her mind _._ Nope, she was way too happy right now, to let anything burst her bubble.

Oftentimes, her friends never really gave her enough credit for creating her "babies",but that didn't really bother her (much). So when someone like Shiro comes along and starts praising her, it usually goes to her head real quickly.

"How did you create Funell and how can he do so many things, Tsugumi-nee-chan?" Shiro wanted to know, as indicated by his determined eyes and excited smile. Tsugumi simply smiled hack before clearing her throat and started a little tangent as she began explaining Funell's creation and mechanics, _**in detail,**_ and the longer her explanation lasted, the more technical her terms became and the more excited she got. She sounded like a high school girl who was dying to talk about some gossip that she had been holding on to all day.

In her excitement, she never even noticed the fact that smoke was starting to come out of Shiro's ears and that his eyes were starting to swirl, as Shiro struggled to understand Tsugumi's explanation. For his part, he truly _was_ curious about Funell and how he was able to do so many things. All of the feelings he had felt prior to his conversation were all genuine. However, whatever the dark-haired hacker was saying couldn't be processed by his brain at all. Maybe it was only because of his Amnesia or simple-mindedness, but it eventually got to the point where all he could understand were the "In's", "The's", "and's" and "Funell"

Eventually, Tsugumi stopped her explanation because Shiro had fallen on the ground; looking like a person who has just short-circuited with the overload of information. Tsugumi could only sweatdrop and laugh nervously, knowing fully well that she may have gotten a bit too technical in her excitement.

"Well, I suppose I should get him to Hare."

...

In the void realm, Hare had always been the number one go-to person whenever you wanted to get healed. It may have been the fact that her void was the most powerful and efficient healing void there was and that rarely anyone ever died under her care or the fact that Hare just had a certain charm that naturally attracted people. Of course, there _were_ other people who had voids that were similar to hers, though not as efficient. With that said, in the void realm, she seldom got tired to the point where she could just collapse on the ground because a lot of other people were sharing the workload. However, since only a few of her nursing team had decided to stay in Tokyo her healing void was very much in demand and Argo' "training" certainly wasn't making things any easier for her.

Given the situation, she can often get side-tracked and get laid because of her busy schedule and sometimes she can even forget things. Namely, a red-eyed brunette with name of Shiro who had managed to sneak away from her while she was healing a human girl who had a few bruises.

"Okay, that should do it" Hare said cheerfully, while patting the girl on the head. Said girl only smiled and hugged Hare, making the brunette blush, before the girl ran away to train again.

That was when she saw something in her peripheral vision...or _lack_ of someone. She turned her head to the direction in panic only to see an empty chair where Shiro should have been. This was bad. She was supposed to look after him; she was his self-appointed caretaker. She panicked and started searching the infirmary for him, hoping that he had just wandered in there somewhere, she even started asking some of her nursing team, but it was all a vain effort since he was neither in the infirmary nor has any of her nursing team seen him. She felt like crying, for being such a clutz.

"Oi, Hare, you looking for someone?" The voice of a certain plugsuit wearing hacker reached her ears as she immediately turned her head to the direction of the voice. Only to sigh in relief when she saw a familiar brunette boy being held up by Tsugumi.

She started walking towards them to retrieve Shiro only to get confused when she saw the expression on his face; he looked like he had just been short-circuited.

"Eh? What happened to him? Did he get hurt?" Hare exclaimed worriedly before carressing the boy's face in her concern; closely examining it for any injuries orwounds. Despite the distinctive lack of any visible wounds and injuries, her caretaker and nursing instincts kicked in as she reached for her void, only to see Tsugumi dismissively waving her hand in the air.

"Nay, he didn't get hurt or anything..." Tsugumi said dismissively, albeit sheepishly, which only made the brunette caretaker look at her in confusion. "I guess he got confused when I started explaining how I made Funell"

"Tsugumiiii!" Whined the brunette girl, while Tsugumi just spoke in her defense.

"What? He was really excited when he found Funell and when he asked how I made him, I told him and then the next thing I knew he was lying on the ground looking like his brain fried" Tsugumi explained in her defense, while Hare just frowned at her, before taking Shiro to the nearest bed. Tsugumi just eyed them for bit; noting the fact that Hare had taken extra care of him by doing simple things like fluffing his pillow, wiping his forehead and even putting on a blanket on top of him. The dark-haired hacker supposed that it was just how she handled her patients, but then a misvhievous grin appeared on her face. She turned to the door before turning back and saying...

"Okay, take care of Ouma Shu Jr." Tsugumi said cheekily, which made the brunette nurse jolt stumble, and turn to her with a disbelieving expression and a tomato red blush. This little reaction of her was enough to make the hacker giggle happily.

"Eeeeeehhhhh?!" Hare yelled, subconsciously, but the laughing Tsugumi had already left, along with her precious Funell, before Hare could use her void as a whip against her. She then pouted before taking a seat next to Shiro, visibly trying to calm down her racing heart and red blush. She then looked at Shiro's slightly dazed face and she started, subconsciously, analyzing his facial features.

She had to admit that Shiro could definitely pass as the child of Inori and Shu. It's true that his skin was milky white and his eyes were red, but Shiro had certain features that Shu had as well, like the bridge of his nose, his jawline... To be honest, if she hadn't known Shu and Inori beforehand he could've mistaken Shiro for their son...

She immediately shook those ridiculous thoughts away from her mind because it was utterly impossible for Shiro to be Shu and Inori's child, despite his appearances. Sure, there were instances when he would show his tendency of being dense and incapable of reading the atmosphere, like Shu had been. Also, there were times when he would behave bemusedly and obliviously, like Inori. Of course, she knew that those were probably just coincidences. There was no way that Shu and Inori had their own child.

As her heart started to calm down some, the idea of Shu and Inori having children brought up several R-18 images of the royal couple in her mind. Her blush returned with a vengeance and her heart started pounding as the images continued plaguing her mind like slideshow presentation

" _Kyaaaaaa_ " she couldn't help, but squeal in embarassment at her own thoughts before covering her face with shame. What was she thinking?! She knew that her face was probably as red as a tomato again and she was really thankful that Shiro was too dazed to see this right now because she knew that if he saw her like this he would ask what the reason was and-

"Hare-nee-chan?" Gulp.

The brunette froze in place before peaking through her covered eyes through opening a gap between her fingers. She was still hoping that Shiro was still a bit dazed to notice her blush, but no such luck. The brunette boy was looking at her with his oblivious and innocent expression. How was she going to explain this now?

"Shiro..." She said with an unnatural sounding laugh. "Are you okay now? I heard that Tsugumi may have overloaded you" She said, while doing her best to calm her heart down before the boy could notice.

"Mhm. I couldn't get what Tsugumi-nee-chan was talking about, but I still think Funell is really cool, did you know that she made him all by herself?" Shiro said the last part excitedly, like a little boy wanting to show off for his parents. Hare, for her part, was thankful that Shiro didn't seem to pay any attention to the blush on her face. She just nodded at him, but his excited expression was immediately replaced by his default innocent and oblivious expression.

"Hare-nee-chan, why is your face all red?"

"Wh-what? My face isn't-" she stopped herself short when Shiro suddenly leaned in closer to her; looking her in the eye as she did so. Those red eyes weren't accusing per se, if anything they actually held nothing, but curiosity and innocence, but Hare found herself unable to utter a single word or avert her gaze. Is this how Shu felt whenever Inori looked at when she's mad? "I'm just a bit tired from my nursing duties that's all" she said with a nervous laugh. What kind of excuse was that? How did a blushing face translate into tiredness? Luckily, Shiro wasn't as sharp as Inori was because the brunette boy merely nodded understandingly, which made her sigh in relief.

That is until she saw him hopping off the bed.

"Shiro, where are you..." She didn't get to finish her sentence because Shiro had staryed massaging her shoulders and quite expertly she might add. She really had been tired from all her nursing duties, her stamina was already close to empty, and her shoulders were killing her, but once Shiro started kneading them, she felt like she could fall asleep with the overwhelming blissfulness that she was feeling right now.

Wait no, she shouldn't be thinking something like that now! She started blushing even more as she panickingly started asking the brunette boy behind her.

"Sh-shiro, what are you doing?" Her voice kept alternating between bliss and panic in taht last sentence, which would've sounded utterly ridiculous, but Shiro only looked at her determinedly and innocently.

"You said you were tired, Hare-nee-chan. I don't want you to feel tired, so I'm trying to take away that tiredness by doing this" he said happily, albeit determinedly. She had to admit, for a boy who had amnesia, he was a pretty good masseur. Still, she felt the need to get her argument across, despite her body telling her to relax and accept the blissful treatment.

"Yeah, but...I'm supposed to be...your...care..taker" she kept emitting blissful moans between that sentence.

"Mhm. You take really good care of me, so I want to take good care of you as well." He said determinedly and Hare felt her last bit of resistance melt away as she leaned into the boy's hands. She really needed this right now and she clearly didn't have it in her to argue her point further. Not even questioning the fact that she had barely done things that could be considered caretaker-ish aside from healing, brining him here and brining him to Ayase. She was going to have to change that.

"Okay...but..." She attempted to make one last act of resistance, which was easily defeated by the overwhelming bliss he was experiencing.

"Shhh..." Was the last thing Hare heard before her mind typically turned into mush with the bliss and relief she was feeling. She was even sure that she had a pretty stupid grin on her face right now.

She'll have to think of a way to return the favor.

...

Pre-apocalypctic situations have other downsides aside from virus outbreaks, threat of humanity being wiped out, lockdowns, etc. There was also the issue of being able to supply enough food for the masses. With the situation being what it currently is, food and supplies were scarce. So scarce, that the population of Tokyo would've already been halved by now. Fortunately, the SDF, unlike the GHQ, dropped supplies during fixed intervals and distributed them evenly amongst the population of Tokyo, thus minimizing the casualties. With that said, there were more mouths to feed and the SDF needed to cut a lot of corners in order to supply the masses with the basic necessities for survival, though the people didn't seem to mind.

"...Ugh..."

Unless you ask a certain brunette haired king and his friends who were looking down on bowls of somesort of soup in despair. If you would consider water with three cubes of potato as soup, that is. Around the table, his friends had varying expressions on their faces as they looked on their bowls of soup as well; Yahiro looked at it in silent disdain, Jun looked at it with a forced smile (probably because he knew that this wasn't the cooks' fault), Tsugumi looked at it with disinterest, Ayase had closed eyes and a blank expression, Argo just stayed quiet while staring down on it, Jimmy was visibly trying to convince himself, Juan just looked at it with silent tears, Inori had already faceplanted on the table and Shu just groaned. For most of the Genesis, who had been denied food as a whole in the last five years this was completely unacceptable. Even the people who had once been in the military, found this food to be unacceptable.

"D-don't worry guys were planning another raid on the supply drop tomorrow, so..." Jun tried to cheer them up with a forced smile, but just cut himself short because he wasn't fooling anybody. It's not like they doubted their team's ability to get more supplies, they just doubted that the SDF would put anything than the absolute essentials to survive.

"It's not like those crates will be filled with something better" Yahiro said matter-of-factly, which made the others nod in agreement.

"Aye, supplies are scarce, no way they can get anything other than the basics" Tsugumi said, while looking at her "soup" with annoyance. "and even if they did, they probably wouldn't bring it here" she said while crossing her arms

"The SDF is minimizing casualties this time around, so all the good food is probably all gone by now" the former SDF soldier said in his defense. True, the SDF was trying to minimize the casualties and because of that there were more people to feed and with more people to feed, the good food, if there was any to begin with, was probably already all gone during the first few days of the lockdown.

"Well, that's good I guess. At least they actually care about what happens to the people in Tokyo" Ayase was the one who spoke her thoughts, which earned her sounds of assessment from around the table.

"Now if only we can convince them, that we're on their side" Shu couldn't help but say in a wishful voice, which a few sighs from around the table. The SDF were good people, they couldn't deny that, which is exactly why Tsugumi tried to convince them to form an alliance or at the very least a truce, but they plainly refuse to cooperate with them, unless Shu would stand in trial, which is not an option. With that said, they couldn't ll engage into battle with the Mananites of loop 7, if the SDF were going to attack them as well. Not only, would they have to fight battle on two fronts, but they would be killing innocent people who had just been mistaken in their beliefs. This is the main reason why they were trying to think up of a plan of fighting _with_ them indirectly, but so far no opportunities were coming up.

"Hi guys" the king was brought out of his musings when he heard Hare's voice. Shu looked in said direction and smiled to see the brunette nurse and the brunette boy coming towards them. When she was close enough she then eyed the bowls of soup and smiled in sympathy. "that bad?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and got a few noises of assessment.

"hare-nee-chan, aren't they hungry?" Asked the brunette boy at her side who was carrying a tray filled with the same contents as everyone else around the table.

"It's no-" Juan was about to reply, but he cut himself off when he turned his head and caught sight of the source of the voice. He immediately froze with wide eyes and paled, like he was seeing a zombie come back to life right in front of him.

"Juan, what's wr-" and before Jimmy could finish his sentence he started coughing on nothing, but air as he caught sight of the boy beside Hare and just like everyone else that Shiro had met that day, Juan and Jimmy started turning their heads back and forth from the king and queen to the boy. Inori didn't even need to lift her face from the table to know what was causing the confused noises she was hearing, while Shu only watched in amusement as they saw the two guys visibly try to make sense of the situation, by convincing each other.

Shiro, on the other hand, only looked on with innocent confusion before turning to Hare.

"Hare-nee-chan, why do people always act this way whenever they see me?"

Hare could only offer the boy an awkward cheek scratch because she didn't really know how to tell him. What was she supposed to say, "they think that you're Shu and Inori's 12 year old son, even if they know that it's impossible since they only met when they were 17"?

"They're probably just not used to seeing a new face that's all" Hare sais awkwardly, while the boy only looked at her with understanding.

"Oooooohhhh" he drawled in realization before taking a seat next to Hare on the table. All while the two men kept staring at him like they were looking at a mirage that was going to blur out of existence. However, Shiro either, didn't notice or simply disimissed it because he looked at the untouched bowls of soup in front of the people around the table and raised an eyebrow before asking...

"Eh? Aren't you all hungry?" This in turn was responded by varying awkward movements, as if to state their uncertainty, while the king merely said.

"The food isn't exactly worth eating" Said the brunette king as he continued to play with the soup in front of him with his spoon. The rest of the gang just made noises of assessment, while the red eyed brunette simply laughed nervously.

"Sorry, I can't really relate since I don't have any memories of ever doing anything like this before" Shiro said with an awkward headscratch, before putting his hands together. "Thanks for the food" with that he took to the bowl in his hands and lifted it up to his mouth, while the others started to watch curiously. Maybe he wouldn't really mind since he didn't really have anything to compare it to. However, as soon as the liquid came in contact with the boy's lips, every muscle in Shiro's body locked in place and his body froze. The others watched quietly as Shiro's previously happy expression morphed into a downcast one as he slowly placed the soup back on the table.

"I don't really remember doing anything like this" he started with the same downcast expression. "but I'm sure that food isn't supposed to taste like this" silent tears then started flooding down as Hare started patting his head affectionately, while the others just looked at him with sympathy.

"umm...excuse me..." Their little display of despair was interrupted when they heard an unfamiliar female voice that sounded somewhat high and child-like, but it still sounded pubescent. They all turned their heads to the owner of said voice, with the exception of Inori who was still faceplanted on the table, only to see a girl with short pink hair that hung just above her shoulder and pink eyes who looked just about the same age as Shiro. She was wearing some kind of red and white middle school uniform, a yellow ribbon on the back of her head and wide glasses. Hare immediately recognized the girl as one of the girls from the void realm who sided with Inori.

"Shiori-chan?" Hare asked in a mix of confusion and happiness. Happiness because she was able to see her again and confusion because for some reason her face was almost as pink as her hair and eyes and she had her hands behind her back for some reason. Of course, she had seen her a bunch of times in the hideout in the last few days, but it was very rare since she was mainly busy with work in the infirmary. However, during those shirt meetings she had never acted so strangely before.

"umm...it's nice to see you again...Hare-chan." She was clearly nervous for some reason, which Hare didn't exactly know. She kept fidgeting and blushing, which was odd because in all the time they spent in the void realm she had never acted like this. Well, if the brunette nurse wasn't catching on, a certain plugsuit-wearing, dark-haired hacker certainly was.

"Planning to give that to someone?" Tsugumi asked with a mischievous grin gracing her lips, while majority of the table looked at the girl with smiles on their faces. Shu, on the other hand, just looked at the girl with a dense and ignorant smile, which was similar to the innocent and oblivious expression Shiro was using. Tsugumi's question succeeded in flustering the girl named Shiori even more as she started stuttering.

"S-s-s-so-some-o-one?" The pink-haired girl asked with a shocked expression; looking like she had just been seen doing something that she shouldn't. This only made the hacker grin like a cheshire cat. Apparently, Tsugumi was an expert with teasing, in general, and not just towards her best friend.

"Shiori, do you want to give that to someone?" Inori, who has lifted her head from the faceplant when she heard the girl's name, said with a small encouraging smile on her face, which made the girl's shy gaze shift into one of determination. Seeing her queen encourage like was enough to fill the girl with resolve and confidence to push through with what she came here to do.

"S-Shiro-kun?"

"Yeah"

Only for her to back down and be reduced back to the shy stuttering girl she had been before, when she Shiro looked at her with a curious, oblivious, and innocent expression on his face. Well, so much for her resolve.

"umm..." She then bowed and held her hands out in front of her, one huge pie of sorts, which looked really delicious from the looks of it. This little display succeeded in making the group loom at the pie like it was some sort of divine offering. "I...m-made this...f-for..."

"Is that for me?" Shiro asked excitedly to which the pink-haired girl only nodded rapidly.

"I-ma-made it f-for y-you all" she added, while her hands kept shaking from her nervousness, when she felt the pie being lifted up from her hands she stood up from her bow, only for Shiro to grab her hands, which effectively made the girl blush even more than before (if that was even possible). However, Shiro remained oblivious to the girl's reaction as he happily proclaimed.

"Shiori-chan, you're a saint. Thank you so much" Shiro said sincerely and excitely, while Shiori felt steam coming out of her ears and her mind was starting to go blank. That's when the pink-haired girl rushed out of the room, probably too embarassed to continues standing there, which in turn only made the red-eyed brunette tilt his head obliviously in question.

"Was it something I said?" He was either unaffected by the scene or just plain too dense to understand what it entailed, which earned a few amused chuckles from the table.

"Are you _sure_ that this isn't your son?" Tsugumi asked the brunette king teasingly, obviously referring to his denseness, which only made the brunette look away in defiance and embarassment.

"You gotta admit, the resemblence is there" Juan, who had juat recovered from the initial shock, said with a grin gracing his lips as he looked at the boy.

"What is it with you and pink-haired girls, Shu?" Yahiro asked with a smile on his lips as the king slowly got more annoyed, while her queen simply comforted him.

...

...

 **I wonder what Keido keeps seeing in Shiro? What do you guys think?**

 **Sorry to GuiltyKingOumaShu, if this story isn't shaping up as you expected and if you thought that I would copy the plot of your story. No hard feeling, okay?**

 **So there you have it, the second relatively light chapter of this story.**

 **As for the pink-haired girl, Shiori, I can tell you now that she isn't a one time character used only for this chapter.**

 **In any case, expect more action in the next chapter as we kick this thing off because I know that you people are probably gonna get sick of all the home drama.**


	4. Subconscious Secrets

**First off, I want to clarify that this little story of mine began after the first arc of reclaiming the throne. So basically, all the introduction was already taken care of in that story. With that said, this story is already set in the time of the war in the human world, okay? The first three chapters were only introductions for my OC and his relationship with the others and with this little chapter we'll kick things off, since I think that this story has had enough home drama at least for the time being.**

 **The third chapter of the undertaker exam mini arc has begun.**

 **On with the show**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Chapter 3: Subconscious secrets**

 **...**

 **...**

Nothing of interest had happened after that little event with Shiori, granted that there was a lot of teasing about how Shiro's resemblance to Shu in terms of being dense and being attractive to girls with pink hair, which didn't really bother the brunette king (much) and was only lost on the brunette boy. Small talk was exchanged as the gang partook in the delicious pie that Shiori had given to Shiro. Of course, most of them tried to deny the red-eyed brunette's offer, saying that Shiori made it for him, but eventually succumbed to their own temptation when Shiro took the first bite and ended up with an expression that looked like the gates of heaven have opened and angels started singing for him.

Around midday, Hare, being Shiro's self-appointed caretaker, had made an extra effort to really keep an eye on him. For her part, Hare, didn't particularly mind watching over Shiro, but she was a little wary of leaving her medic duties in the infirmary. No other voids in the medic team were as powerful as hers, so she felt like she was putting the lives of their patients on the line for the sake of watching over one kid. If she had been her old self, she wouldn't have given a second thought to helping out this little kid, but she wasn't her old self anymore, she had been exposed to the horrors of war for what felt like an eternity. With that said, she had learned to keep her priorities straight; putting her patients first before anything else. It was necessary back in the void realm and, with Argo's current training, it is necessary here now.

In short, she couldn't afford to leave her medic duties for the sake of entertaining one kid, right?

However, before she could even open her mouth to kindly talk to the brunette boy about her situation; to let him understand, the boy had beat her to the punch.

"Hare-nee-chan, you should probably go back to the infirmary, I think a lot of people need your help"

The brunette medic blinked once. Then twice.

She looked down at the young boy only to see the familiar smile that was almost always there on Shiro's face. He looked into his eyes, trying to find anything hidden with that message; reluctance, hesitance, disappointment, but she couldn't find it. All she found was innocence and understanding, which slightly took her aback into saying...

"Are you sure?" She said bemusedly; looking a bit hesitant to actually put this into action. Afterall, there were plenty of trouble a 12 year old boy with amnesia can get into in a hideout filled with hundreds of terrorists and weaponry.

Her imagination made the concept of leaving Shiro to his own devices, while she went back to the infirmary suddenly became a lot less appealing.

She crossed her arms in front of her, pouted her lips and creased her forehead in thought; weighing the pros and cons of Shiro's proposal.

"I won't get in any trouble if that's what you're worried about" The red-eyed brunette added with an oblivious and innocent expression that gave her the impression that he _did_ believe what he was saying, but will inevitably _get_ into trouble unintentionally.

The brunette medic continued to stand there for a few more seconds, until she sighed in defeat.

"Okay, but I'm going to bring you along with me, just to make sure" Hare was half-expecting Shiro to complain about getting bored and wanting to walk around, but surprisingly, Shiro only nodded eagerly; looking happy about the fact that he wouldn't be a bother anymore.

"Okay!"

...

Let it be a known fact that Shiro knew the basic difference between a Genesis and a Human. Haruka had gladly explained the difference to him, completely forgetting that Shiro's vocabulary was currently impaired, because she had used a wide variety of complex words. However, unlike with Tsugumi, his brain didn't fry and he was able to derive the difference between the two. As far as he could understand, Genesis were better, while humans weren't as good. Then again, the two different factions during their visit to the cafeteria may have helped him distinguish them apart.

That said, Shiro has never seen...or doesn't remember seeing a void or seeing someone use a void.

Until now...

Shiro could only look on in fascination as Hare took out her void from the glowing hole in her chest. The medic only smirked in amusement as she took out the bandage like void as if it was the most trivial thing in the world, while the red-eyed boy looked on like she was somesort of guardian goddess.

"Have you never seen a void before?" The medic asked and Shiro could only look at her with wide eyes.

"I'm not really sure..." Was his reponse, though he didn't quite believe it. For some reason, he felt like he had seen this before. This turn only made the brunette medic smile kindly and knowingly. Of course, he couldn't be sure because even if he did saw a void before, he wouldn't remember it.

"Kay, I'm going to do my job now. So you just stay put." She said the last part with pout and albeit stern tone; clearly putting an emphasis on the "stay put". She even closed up on his face with narrowed eyes to make sure that he understood.

At that, Shiro only nodded albeit looking uncomfortable.

With that Hare got to work on her first patient, which a teenage Genesis girl who had a couple of stab wounds. She just shook her head in disapproval as her void wrapped around the girl's figure and started glowing.

Honestly, Argo's training sessions were getting harsher by the minute. New arrivals keep coming on an hourly basis with injuries ranging from stab wounds and broken ribs. Hare had gone through the trouble of going to the gym personally on one occasion, only to be treated as a more convenient infirmary with how many patients that were asking to be healed.

She even went as far as to question the efficacy of his "training" only to receive a calm response from the former SDF soldier claiming that "The men and women here want this", but if you asked her this was becoming a problem in more ways than one.

Not only were the medics getting overworked, but the dividing line between the Genesis and Humans was becoming more and more evident. She never did understand why humans hated her kind. Of course, she _knew_ why they feared them; it was because they were basically more superior. And things like "this" were only going to make things worse.

While Hare was having inner ranting, Shiro, for his part, looked at the glowing void in front of him with fascination, curiosity, and speculation. Fascination and curiosity because he was impressed at how the stab wounds slowly started to close and speculation because he was trying to decipher where he had seen this before.

...

As the day dragged by, more and more patients started to pile up in the infirmary and the medic team was getting more and more affected by their fatigue.

Shiro, for his part, looked at his caretaker with worry because of how exhausted she looked. Shiro knew because her bright and happy smile was replaced by an expression that looked like she could faint any minute now. He didn't like that very much and he liked the concept of him sitting there, while she was working herself to the bone even less. Didn't they have breaks here?

"Hare-nee-chan..." He started only to cut himself short when he saw the half-closed eyes of the medic turn to her. In hindsight, probably every medic looked like they were about to pass out.

"Yes?" Hare asked tiredly albeit kindly, while her void kept working on the current patient, which was the 20th healing session she has done today.

Apparently, she spotted Shiro's troubled expression so she tried to put on her regular happy smile in hopes of reassuring him. However, it only looked like a forced and tired smile to him. this little display only made him more concerned.

"Are you okay?" A very unnecessary question, but Shiro wanted her to confirm it.

"Oooof course I aaaam" the brunette medic slurred, which only made the boy look even more concerned. "I'm almost done anyway"

The intimidating line of patients waiting inside the infirmary that Shiro was looking at begged to differ.

Seeing the evidence in front of him only made Shiro feel helpless. Hare, his caretaker and the girl who had saved him, was probably seconds away from passing out because of exhaustion and he could do nothing, but stand and look at the patients that were still awaiting treatment. He didn't like the feeling at all.

"oookay, you're all patched up" Hare mumbled sleepily as her current patient was replaced by the another.

Seeing this, Shiro desperately tried to think of a way to spare Hare the exhaustion or at least ease some of it away, but he was coming up empty-handed.

That's when he saw the void in Hare's arm and looked at his right hand. Maybe he can use it, instead of her? No, Haruka-nee-chan, as well as, Hare-nee-chan said that lending the void to someone wasn't working. Hare even tried to lend it to him only for it to dissolve back into her.

Maybe he can draw out his own void...?

He shook that thought away. He tried it with Haruka-nee-chan, but it didn't work. So why was he thinking that it would work now? Still, if he _had_ something like that maybe he could ease off some of Hare-nee-chan's tiredness. He looked back at the brunette medic again and his brow creased in worry as she watched her void wrapping around another patient.

In a fit of desperation, he placed his right arm on his chest, half-expecting that a glowing hole would appear.

Nothing.

"Figured as much" he let his hand rest on his side and sighed in defeat before turning back only to see a now unconscious Hare.

His eyes opened in alarm and reached out his hand to help her. His mind blocking out any other thought other than to help his self-appointed caretaker.

Luckily for Shiro, Hare wasn't conscious to see the glowing hole that appeared on his chest.

...

When Hare finally woke up, she felt strange to say the least. First of all, she had felt refreshed and invigorated, when she was sure that she would pass out from exhaustion just a minute ago. Second, she couldn't even _remember_ what happened to her in the last few hours or so. Lastly, Shiro was sleeping on a table next to her, looking completely exhausted. Now what was up with that?

Given the strange situation and peculiar feeling, Hare took a few minutes to collect her thoughts.

Okay first off, she was in the infirmary with Shiro. Well, she remembered bringing him here with her so that she can keep an eye on him, while she did her medic duties...and that's it. Nothing else was coming to mind.

Maybe...she had healed a bunch of patients and eventually passed out in exhaustion? Well, if that was the case, why did she feel so refreshed and energized now? She never felt this refreshed when she took one of her naps after several sessions, she would always feel some of the tiredness even after a nap. More to the point, why was _Shiro_ looking so exhausted, while _he_ slept?

She had brought him here a few minutes ago, right? They had just came in here in the infirmary, right? Did they fall asleep when they came in? Then why didn't anyone even wake her up? Did they not need her help?

Just when her thoughts started to crumple into a a huge mess in her brain. She spotted one of the members of her medic team, while stretching her arms; looking confused and slightly disoriented by her surroundings, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing and was visibly trying to make sense of it all. Like how she probably acted a few minutes ago.

Speaking of surroundings, there weren't patients in the infirmary anymore...which was odd since this place has always been filled to the brim with patients ever since Argo joined the club. Seeing this place empty for once was a very odd, strange and welcome change.

The thought made her smile in relief until she caught a glance at the time and her eyes widened in shock and horror.

It was currently 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

2 hours have passed since she came here...and...

She couldn't remember what happened.

...

"Maybe the void realm messed up my perception of time...?"

Since no patients were coming in nor does it look like any patients were going to arrive in the infirmary, Hare had decided to take a walk around the halls of their hideout, whilst trying to uncover the mystery behind how and why she couldn't remember what happened to her in the last 2 hours. Normally, she would've taken the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, but the anomaly happened made sure that wasn't needed, which is why she was thinking up a few theories to explain it.

Granted, that her theories weren't really plausible, while some were just downright ridiculous.

"But then again...I never had any trouble with time in the last two weeks..." Hare furrowed her brow and crossed her arms in front of her in thought, while she kept walking.

She started thinking about the pieces of evidence: Her and her medic team being completely refreshed, the fact that they more or less missed two hours from the day, the fact that there were no patients, and the fact that Shiro was completely exhausted.

"Now why would Shiro be exhausted...he can't access a void...so he couldn't have healed them..." Hare closed her eyes and placed the index finger of both hands on her temples in concentration. "maybe it was someone else with a healing void...?" She didn't really believe that.

Hare knew every Genesis with a healing void by heart because they were a part of the medic team. With that said, how _could_ anyone heal them and their patients, when every member of the medic team, every Genesis with a healing void, all had no memories of the last two hours...

She was just running around in circles with her argument because she wasn't getting anywhere with this at all.

She sighed in defeat when all of a sudden a door to her right opened, which made her jump in surprise. When she turned her head, she saw Shu looking at her in surprised smile.

"Hare? Where've you been, were all waiting for you" the brunette king said calm voice and a small worried smile on his face, which made her blink in confusion.

"Waiting...for me? Why?" Hare furrowed her brows in confusion. Did she miss something? Meanwhile, Shu just narrowed his eyes in worry and contempt, as if she was analyzing her, which made her flustered. Why was he looking at her like that?

"S-shu? W-why a-are y-ou looking a-at me l-like that?" At this, Shu only softened his expression to a kinder smile and dismissively waved the matter away.

"It's nothing..." He said before taking a step away from the door to let her in, which confused her slightly, didn't she just got here? Oh right, that was two hours ago. Curious as to what this was all about, she decided to enter the meeting room with no further complaints.

Oblivious to the fact, that Shu had informed her of this meeting beforehand.

...

True to what the brunette king had said, everybody _was_ there and for some reason they were all looking at her with varying degrees of worry and concern, with the exception of Argo and Keido who had a hint of suspicion and a tinge of disbelief in their expressions, respectively. What was that all about?

She slowly got more and more uneasy as she took her seat to Inori's right. That was the moment Shu had taken his seat to Inori's left to begin this meeting, at least that's what she thought. The brunette king turned to her with an expression of worry, before asking in a serious tone.

"Hare...did you feel anything strange when you left the meeting room before?"

Gulp. Did he know about what happened to her? Is that why everybody was here? Did they gather here to talk about her sudden memory loss? Well, they've probably already reached a conclusion before she got here and just wanted to confirm something. But what was she going to tell them? That she lost 2 hours of her memory and can't remember anything? That already sounded ridiculous in her mind, what more if she said it outloud?

"Hare" This time it was her queen who spoke in a gentle, yet serious tone. "Do you remember what happened in the infirmary?" She asked in a gentle tone and a worried gaze, that melted away her self-conscious thoughts away, so she shook her head at the pinkette, which then prompted Inori to look at her king with a meaningful and worried look.

She didn't even notice that the other people in the room were doing the same thing and looking at her worriedly. What was she missing here?

"Hare..." She turned her head to Argo who sighed. "the people that I sent to the infirmary, came back without any memory of why they were even in the infirmary and have no memory of being injured at all" Argo explained calmly in an attempt to shed some light on the situation.

That was when Hare looked at him with wide eyes, before blurting out:

"They couldn't remember anything too?" Hare said in shock. She was slowly starting to feel uneasy and sick to her stomach at this point. What was happening? First, it was her, then her medic team, and now her supposed patients.

"What do you mean "too"?" Yahiro was the one who spoke up forming a bridge with his arms and said in a serious tone that sounded a bit accusing, which made her look down in nervousness. Why was she being accused again? She was a victim here too. Unwilling to be accused she looked up with a determined expression.

"My medic team and I couldn't remember the last two hours. To me it felt like I had just arrived in the infirmary when all of a sudden two hours have already passed" Hare said with determined voice before turning to Argo, silently asking for an explanation on his part, but only took a glance at Tsugumi, who, for once, didn't seem to look like her usual cheeky self. As she placed Funell on top of the table and projected a loading screen on the farside of the wall.

Hare took this opportunity to look at their expressions, and she got the inkling that they had watched this before because some of the people present had their eyes closed in contempt, while others were looking at her observantly; as if they were measuring her reaction. The tension in the atmosphere clearly set her heart on edge as she directed her attention to the video that was now playing on screen, hoping to receive some enlightenment.

The video playing on screen was clearly caught on one of the hidden security cameras that Tsugumi had installed in strategic locations around their hideout five years ago. However, Hare's Genesis eyes could still make out what was happening in the somewhat poor quality video that was playing onscreen, albeit with some difficulty.

It was from the infirmary, that much was clear because she could see herself tending to a patient and Shiro watching her. The time on the video read 1:30 of the same day, which made Hare feel a bit weird. It was like watching yourself doing something, without any memory of actually doing it. In any case, Shiro stood up from his seat and started talking to her for a few seconds, then the next patient came in. She still tended to the patient with her void, when Shiro suddenly stood up and placed his hand on his chest, before he sighed in defeat. Right then and there Hare had fallen unconscious...

"Ehhh-?" Hare felt her words leave her and a lump on her throat appeared as she watched several things happen at once.

Shiro reached out his hand to help her, a scarlet-tinted glowing hole suddenly appeared on his chest, silver threads suddenly started flowing out of it and into Shiro's outstretched hand.

She could feel the eyes of everyone present on her, probably because they didn't need to watch the video anymore or maybe it was because they were measuring her reaction. Well her face alone spoke volumes of what she thought about the matter.

As Hare was busying herself with recovering from her shock, a scarlet and silver themed, hardbound book with an intricate silver spade symbol on the cover. The book itself was too big and too thick to be considered a pocket book, yet small enough for Shiro to hold it with one hand. Of course the boy looked taken aback, as if he had no idea what just happened in the last few seconds, but when he finally got over the initial shock, Shiro then started to skim through the book, but looked a bit surprised at what he was seeing. He started flipping through the pages slowly one by one, before he stopped and then held the now-open-book with his right hand. The spade on the cover then started glowing and...

Hare's jaw dropped and her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head with how wide they were open.

Silver threads suddenly flowed out from his book and into somesort of glowing shape that appeared in his other hand. When it dissipated, a pocketwatch with silver threads coming out of it, took the light's place in his hand. Shiro, for his part, looked at the object in amazement and looked back at the glowing book in his hand; obviously surprised at what he had just done. He started reading something in the book and went over to Hare's patient, which was now slightly bothered because Hare had fainted with exhaustion, thus dispelling her void. Shiro went over to her and touched her hand with his finger; pocketwatch in hand.

"Revert 20 minutes 13 seconds" Shiro said and the hands on the pocket watch started turning back the exact amount that he had said and the more that hands turned back the more the injuries dissipated. As soon as the clock stopped turning, the patient suddenly took a defensive pose only to relax and look at her surroundings in confusion. It looked like the patient didn't even know why or how she was even there in the first place. Shiro then started talking to the patient a bit before she eventually nodded and left the infirmary without complaint, albeit confusedly.

Hare's surprise, gradually turned into disbelief and tearful happiness, as she saw Shiro tend to the other patients in her and her medic team's stead. The fact that Tsugumi sped things up, was a clear sign that Shiro had tended to so many patients in that last half hour. The fact that Shiro would do such a thing for her had moved her to tears as she smiled at the boy in the video while tears of happiness started to fall. She was his caretaker and for the second instance of the day, _he_ had cared for _her_. She owed him twice now.

Finally, during the last seconds of the video, Shiro had walked over to her sleeping form and touched her with his pocketwatch-holding hand.

"Revert 2 hours 5 minutes and 30 seconds" was the last thing Shiro said before the pocketwatch started spinning backwards in an obvious attempt to rid her of her fatigue and as soon as the "healing" was done. The watch faded back into light and and turned back into silver threads that dissolved back in the book. He then closed it amd let go of it, before it dissolved back into his chest. Shiro then took his respective seat and not a second later his head fell on top of the table in exhaustion.

The video ended and Hare, instantly, felt bad about Shiro having done all their medical duties for them. Even if it was for half an hour, the number of patients were overwhelming. She couldn't even imagine the herculine effort it must've taken for him to do all that, not to mention the fact that he was probably using two voids at the same time. All this time she was only worrying about herself and her lost memories, when she should've been taking care of Shiro.

Ironic, for the boy, who she had thought to hinder her medic duties, to be the one to continue it in her and her team's stead when they failed to do so.

"the last thing the trainees remembered when they got back was them almost getting injured by their opponent" Argo said matter-of-factly, with a hint of accusation in underlying in his calm tone. This caught Hare's attention as she looked at her.

"At least, they were able to get back on their feet again. Without Shiro, none of them would've been healed" Hare said in the boy's defense. Her statement was true, but Argo appeared to be unaffected by the accusation.

"That may be, but the soldiers that came back were all confused, mentally-disoriented and distracted by their sudden loss of memories"

"Shiro was only trying to do something good, he didn't mean to do any of that"

"Not meaning to do it, doesn't really affect the results"

"What, results? Forgetting about the pain of their injuries while also getting healed." Hare countered, which seemed to silence Argo for a small second, since he can't really deny the benefits of the boy's healing.

"That doesn't change the fact that he lied about not being a Genesis" Argo reminding her of the previous discussion they had the very same day, which seemed to leave the brunette speechless momentarily.

"He didn't lie about anything... Haruka and Keido tested him out and they said that he was practically an above average human boy" Hare's statement was the supported by the king's mother nodding at her in assesment, while her brother only nodded mechanically.

"Then how would you explain the fact that he can draw out his void?" Argo asked calmly, which seemed to stump the brunette girl. A defining characteristic of the Genesis was being able to draw out their own void. Anybody who was able to do just that couldn't be qualified as a Human.

"If that's the case then he _would_ be a Genesis" the pinkette queen was the one who spoke in a calm tone, which made everybody turn their heads to her.

"But my queen, didn't you say that you have never seen the boy before? Nor have I for that matter..." Jun said thoughtfully, which made the queen nod at him with assessment.

"Yes, I have never seen him before." Confirmed the pink-haired queen, before continuing. "But I can't think of any other explanation for what we just saw"

That much was enough to get her point across. Since he could access his void then it was a given that he was a Genesis. The only other way for him to be able to do that without being a Genesis would be if he was in possesion of a void genome, which was unlikely, if not impossible, since there were only three in existence; both five years ago and in the present time. It was either one way or the other; either he was a Genesis or he had possesion over a fourth void genome.

"Inori's right. If he can draw out his void, then he's got to be a Genesis, unless there was a fourth void genome in existence" Shu summarized his queen's point for everyone to which nobody seemed to object.

"Then why hasn't anyone ever seen him before?" Ayase was the one who posed the next question. If Inori was right and he _was_ a Genesis, then shouldn't they have seen him?

"It's possible for him to have stayed Neutral _and_ Hiddenfor the last five years" Yahiro was the one who spoke up with a theory of his own, while everybody simply looked at him. "Whenever he was spotted, he could've easily erased the memories of whoever saw him with that void watch." A solid argument that nobody had any rebuttals to.

"Another thing is his own void, from what we saw in the video, he was able to access another void by using his own, similar to Shu's. With that in mind, isn't it plausible that he had other voids in his arsenal; a void that can let him stay hidden" Yahiro once again gave them a water-tight theory to the predicament at hand. Both of which were possible and most likely both theories were correct, but there was still a very distinctive issue at hand.

"How about his physiology then? He's not as good as a Genesis in terms of physical and mental ability, right?" The brunette king asked his mother with the woman nodding at him with assessment, albeit hesitantly.

"Well, technically that's true, but I have a theory about that..." Haruka looked at her son, only to see him nod encouragingly. "Well, considering the fact that he lost his memories, I assume that he can only access his Genesis abilities subconsciously."

There was only silence after that, prompting the brunette scientist to explain further.

"Well, so far there were only two instances where he exhibited Genesis-like capabilities and in both of those cases he had not intentionally done it, he had done so without any conscious thought" Haruka started before looking at everyone. Nobody seemed confused by her statement so she continued. "I think that he can only access such things subconsciously or when a certain situation happens, since he doesn't consciously remember how to do so"

Silence...

"So you're saying that he can only be like a Genesis during given times?" the brunette king asked, which made her mother nod.

"That's gonna be a liability if you ask me, since he can't do it at will" Argo argued calmly, which earned her a retort from Hare.

"At least we'll have a new set of hands in the infirmary. that's better than nothing"

"Not to mention, the other voids that he has stored in that book of his" Yahiro felt the need to add.

The queen frowned at the suggestion. "We're not sending him out to fight in the front lines" Inori said with a stern and calm voice.

"I wasn't suggesting that..." Said Yahiro in his defense although sounding a bit disappointed. For the strategist of the group, Shiro's void was a big advantage in the long run. Who knew just how many voids he has stored in that book of his and how many of those could be suited for combat? "I was thinking that maybe Shu can assume his void and use it to fight" He looked at the brunette king, which seemed to contemplate his statement.

"It's a good idea...but we know next to nothing about Shiro's void and even if we ask him directly, he wouldn't have the answers either" The brunette king eventually said.

"Then let's find out." Yahiro said seriously, which made everyone look at him. That look in his face combined with his tone, made Hare immediately jump to the gun.

"You're thinking about experimenting on him?! He's just a young boy!" She exclaimed assuming the worst case scenario.

She has never really seen it personally, but Argo told them that the SDF was conducting experiments on the Mananites they captured and he added that it more or less looked like some form of torture. Imagining Shiro taking part in those experiments was downright terrifying.

"Something like that can't and _won't_ happen" Inori said finality apparently going with Hare's flow as she narrowed her eyes at the startegist, while her king simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow, obviously asking for further explanation, since he didn't like the concept either.

To be honest, the queen herself didn't know why she was so defensive. Maybe it was because the Genesis were really close to her heart, even if they remained neutral? So long as they never fought for Mana?

Yahiro, on the other hand, kept his cool. "I'm not suggesting any scientific experiments, since Shiro can only access his abilities subconsciously...I'm suggesting that we learn his void's limitation by triggering events that forces him to draw it out"

Silence followed...

"Nay, he might think that you're making a fool out of him" said the dark haired hacker as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"If you want to do something like that, then it's better to tell him beforehand." Ayase argued sternly.

"If we tell him that it was all a setup then he might not be able draw out his void." A solid point.

"You can't use him like that! He only wants to help out and tricking him like that will upset him" Hare countered.

"I think so too, He can access his subconsciously and upsetting him will only make his void even more unaccessible." Ayase supported the Hare's statement, which made her look at the girl gratefully.

"How about we just let Shu draw out his void him?" Argo suggested, but Yahiro just looked at her with a strange expression.

"We don't know anything about his void and given the facts that he didn't need to reach out into his chest to access it and that the glowing hole in his chest had a scarlet tint to it, I think it would be better for us to know more about it before letting Shu access it" Yahiro said, while looking at the king, whose hand had just been held firmly by her queen and worry, while Shu simply looked at her comfortingly. Everybody in the room also took furtive glances at the brunette king in their worry.

It was a solid point, the out-of-the-norm phenomena that happened when Shiro drew out his void could stand for something; something that could bring harm to their friend. It was better for them to know exactly what Shiro's vois was capable of before letting Shu assume it or draw it out.

"What do you suggest we do?" The brunette king asked and the strategist simply took a mischievous glance at a certain dark-haired hacker...

GULP.

...

"I'l never get used to that" grumbled Tsugumi from her holographic information hub as she surveyed the meeting room.

"Sorry about that, but it was the most practical and convenient way to do this" the brunette king sheepishly said as he was tied to a chair next to her queen who was also tied up to chair.

"I still think that we shouldn't trick him" mumbled the kind-hearted Hare as she too was tied to a chair.

"Playing hostage, huh?" Ayase asked sarcastically with a roll of her eyes as she watched Yahiro's slightly smaller and bulkier clone tie her up from behind. A smirk on her lips appeared as she thought that the role would be very appropriate for the ex drug dealer for being a turnco-

"What's that smirk for?" Asked the brunette strategist as he glared at the smirk on the wheelchair-bound girl's face.

"Oh Nothing." Ayase said innocently while looking away with a sweet smile on her face.

Everybody was being tied up by Yahiro clones that Shu had made when he drew out Tsugumi's void. The plan was simple. They would all play hostages and call out for help, when Shiro comes along he'll see that his friends were being held "hostage" and will most likely access his void subconsciously, while he's doing that Tsugumi will be monitoring his brain activity and vitals for any subtle changes that will happen when he draws out his void. Also, Haruka and Keido were in the lab in order to process the information that Tsugumi was going to send them. By doing this, they'll be able to know what conditions have to be met for Shiro to be able to access his void and if there are any drawbacks or harmful effects to it.

"Do you think this is okay, Shu?" Inori asked with a soft voice. Evidently, she wasn't comfortable with this plan either, but she would rather do _this_ than risk Shu's well-being to draw out an unknown void. Shu just gave her a comforting smile.

"It's likely since the clones barely look like Yahiro." The king simply answered with a small smile. It was true that the clones were all noticebly different in their heights and were wearing ski masks, so there wouldn't be a problem. However, he only saw Inori shake her head.

"Not that. Is it okay to trick Shiro like this?"

That put the king in his deeper thoughts. Was it okay? It was the right thing to do, but was it okay? Shiro is just one mystery after another and the initial reason why he chose to accept Shiro into the hideout was because he had thought he was harmless, but the recent events that happened seems to suggest otherwise. It was only commonsense for him to try and figure out the unknown to ensure everyone's safety by doing this, but was it okay?

"It's better to know what he's capable of" was all he could say; dodging Inori's question. Inori simply nodded a small nod before turning back to the direction she was facing. She may have felt uneasy about going along with this plan, but her king's, her friend's and her followers' safety were her top priority.

"Everyone set?" Came Tsugumi's voice from the intercom and everyone just nodded with varying expressions on their faces. Yahiro was calm, Jun was feeling uneasy, Shu was looking slightly torn, Inori remained quiet with a sad frown, Hare was looking worried, Argo had his eyes closed calmly, and Ayase had her eyes closed in disapproval.

No, they weren't okay with this, but what else were they supposed to do...

...

Meanwhile, Shiro was still fast asleep in the infirmary because of his recent fatigue with unexpectedly using his void. Well, he supposed that it should be expected. Afterall, the ability to bend the laws of the space-time continuum _should_ come at a hefty price. Still, he had never felt so tired before in his life, so he had expected that he would be oblivious to his surroundings during his deep sleep.

However, while his conscious mind had entered the land of sleep, his subconscious was wide awake. He was still on high alert and though he wasn't consciously aware of this, his unconscious mind was constantly taking in his surrounding for anything out of the ordinary; analyzing the area for any suspicious activity without his awareness.

That's when his ears suddenly perked up as it suddenly picked up a peculiar sound; that sounded vaguely familiar to rope being tied and a few grunts and sounds of struggles. A glowing hole suddenly appeared in his chest and his void started flowing out and into his hand; the sensation waking up the brunette boy as he looked in the direction of the door and his hand in confusion.

"What the..." He said sleepily as he blinked a few times before looking at his void in confusion. "Didn't I send this back already?"

He looked around for Hare, but she was nowhere in sight. He then looked at the door questioningly as if there was something compelling him to go there, like there was something he should do. With nothing but confusion in mind, he started walking out of the infirmary with his void in hand and towards the direction he was compelled to go to. As he went, his mind wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep again, but his body had other plans because as he drew closer to his destination, the sensation of his body being submerged in warm water started to spread. In the process, he was suddenly starting to feel more and more awake, much to his confusion. What was up with him? This felt weird.

He suddenly stopped just before the door and looked at it questioningly with a raised eyebrow; unbeknownst to the fact that his mind was preparing for battle. He looked at his void in hand and opened it to a particular page.

Sure enough, silver threads suddenly started flowing out of the book and into a glowing shape in his hand before a pocketwatch void appeared in his other hand.

...

Having been a normal, boring and dense boy for most of his life, Shu wasn't really used to seeing anything out of the ordinary or weird for that matter, but after everything that has transpired in the void realm alone; seeing people revive in crystals, Hare being able to draw out her void, Inori being a queen that controlled crystals, people fighting a war with voids, not to mention what he had gone through five years ago, he didn't think that he would ever be caught off guard by anything that would most likely be considered as out of the ordinary or paranormal again...

Until now...

It was very strange to say the least, one second they were all sitting there like the "hostages" they were and in the next...The Yahiro clones flipped in midair, slammed to the ground, the ropes were untied, and Shiro was sitting in a chair with his void in his right hand and a pocketwatch void in the other, while he was casually reading the book with sleepy eyes. Everyone just looked at the scene in confusion and disbelief, as they all tried to make sense out of what just happened. He didn't even need to see Tsugumi, Haruka or Keido to know that they were probably as confused as they were.

"Shu-nii-chan?" He looked at the red-eyed brunette, who lifted his gaze from his book to look at the clones on the ground, before turning back to him. "What happened?"

...he'd like to know that as well...

...

Once the pocketwatch void was drawn out Shiro then pressed the button on top and all of a sudden everything started slowing down, at least from his perception. He opened the door and the way it moved looked like it was suspended in midair because of how slow it opened.

That's when he got a glimpse of the situation; Hare, Shu, Inori, Ayase, Jun, Yahiro, and Argo were all tied to chairs, while seven men hovered over them. Upon seeing this Shiro then walked over to the first man and repositioned his hand into a fist and aimed it at his own face. It felt weird, it was like arranging a manequin.

He walked over the second man and simply grabbed his leg and lifted him with an angle that made him spin into a flip in midair.

The next men were standing close to each other, so he positioned their arms into fists and aimed it at each other's faces.

He did the same to the rest of the perpetrators before untying them and taking a seat on one of the vacant chairs and casually started reading from his book; looking for a way to stop this suspension state that he had entered. He looked up at the scene before him again and couldn't help, but chuckle; it looked like one of those suspension artworks or a scene from an old movie called The Matrix: Reloaded.

He then looked at the pocketwatch void again and saw that not even a full second has passed. So he just slowed down time not stopped it. He nodded understandingly, before he started feeling his sleepiness overcome him again. It was definitely time for this show to end, before he collapses.

...

After explaining what he had done, Shiro sleepily looked at their expressions with a face that clearly stated his fatigue. They couldn't believe that this little boy's void had just done all of that and at the same time they couldn't help, but wonder what other voids he had stored in that book of his, since the pocketwatch alone was already so powerful.

"Shiro...that's..." Hare apparently was at a loss for words from what she just heard, while the others had varying degrees of suspicion on their faces mixed in with their disbelief.

"...Say...how did those wimpy guys take you hostage anyway" Asked the sleepy brunette, which made Yahiro sweatdrop. Wimpy?

Nobody seemed to know what to do or rather they didn't want to do it. Well, Inori thought it was only fair that he found out so...

"Nobody was in any real danger...it was all an act" said the pink-haired singer calmly with a hint of shame in her tone and a sad expression on her face. "We wanted to find out how you were abke to draw out your void...I'm sorr-" Inori was about to bow to express her apology when Shiro interrupted her.

"You don't have to apologize, Inori-nee-chan" Drawled the sleepy brunette boy, which made the queen and everyone else look at him, only to see a drowzy smile on the boy's face. "Even _I_ don't know why I can't use my void when I try to, it just happens all on it's own. I woke up just now and it was already in my hand. I should be the one who's sorry, since I can't tell you what you wanted to know." After that he offered them a sleepy smile

"No. You don't have to worry about that" Inori said while patting his head affectionately. When Shiro tilted his head in confusion, Ayase was the one who answered.

"Tsugumi was monitoring your vitals and Haruka and Keido were watching your brain movements, so you don't have to feel bad." Ayase said with a small smile on her face. Shiro only gave her another drowzy smile.

"That's good...I thought it was all for nothing..."

"Shiro, you should get some rest now, you must be exhausted." Hare said while urging him to call back his void, which Shiro did, but only the pocketwatch, not the book. He then turned to Shu who looked back with a small smile on his face.

"Shu-nii-chan..." Drawled the sleepy brunette, which prompted the king to answer.

"Yes?"

"I know that I'm a little...different..." Shiro started before pointing to his void. "So I understand if you wanted to make sure that everyone you love was still safe by going through with this...I don't blame you..." Continued the sleepy brunette, while the king looked taken aback.

Did he really figure all of that now? Maybe he underestimated his intelligence...

"I want you to know that I trust you...and I know that you can't trust me yet, until we figure out (Yawn) what makes me different and _why_...I'm...(Yawn) different. So until that time comes, please feel free to ask me of anything that my void and I can help you with" Shiro then offered his book void to the brunette king with a drowzy smile on his face, though it would've looked like the big smile he usually had if it weren't for his fatigue.

Looking at the genuine and trusting gesture drew out several responses from everyone present:

Argo looked on with a small guarded smile; looking slightly moved, but unwilling to let his guard down,

Yahiro looked at the boy with an approving nod and smile; obviously applauding the boy's understanding.

Jun looked on with a proud and teary smile; happy to see such devotion being shown to his king and queen.

Ayase looked at him with a proud and approving nod and smile; clearly thinking that Shiro was better than most of their greenhorns and wannabe-undertakers in more ways than one.

Hare simply looked at the boy with a somewhat motherly and affectionate expression; genuinely moved by the boy's action.

Inori looked at the boy in front of her with slightly teary eyes and an open-mouthed smile; feeling moved by the boy's words and his actions just now, though she didn't fully understand why.

Shu, for his part, looked at the boy with a determined nod and smile; as if he was making a vow to fulfill a promise to a special person. True, he wouldn't be able to trust this boy right away for more than one reason, but he was confident that the time will come when they'll be able to stand together without a shadow of a doubt and at this very moment, the mere gesture was enough to melt away most of the distrust and suspicions he had about Shiro; the possibility of his void being harmful was no longer valid. The boy's genuine willingness was enough to assure that much.

"I will, Shiro" Was the king's response as he took the void from the boy.

Shiro could only manage one more smile before finally giving into his tiredness, thankfully, he was caught by Inori, before he could fall facefirst on the ground; letting the boy's lean in snugly on the queen's chest, looking like a mother embracing his son.

Strangely enough, the void didn't disappear with the boy's consciousness.

"Must be another one of his subconscious secrets" Yahiro concluded.

"Maybe..." Shu said as he opened the book only for him to furrow his brows in confusion before turning the pages one by one, much to the confusion of the others.

"Something wrong, Shu?" Asked the pink-haired queen, before Shu turned to her with a speechless expression.

"It's blank"

...

...

 **Don't you just hate cliffhangers?**

 **At any rate, I bet GKOS is glad because I finally wrote something that I haven't accidentally spoiled to him :)**

 **I also feel that the suspense I tried to build up with Hare losing her memories was all for naught to those of you who have actually read the 13th chapter of Reclaiming the throne. What do you guys think?**

 **What do you think of Shiro's void? I bet you can guess where I got the inspiration for his void from ;)**

 **Also if you look closely you'll notice something with the meeting scene...I'm not telling though.**

 **Also, I've been somewhat ignoring my other stories in favor for Our Little One. So next update may take a while. Sorry guys. ;)**

 **Oh right, advanced merry christmas!**

 **With that said, see you in the next update.**


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